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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Women of (f atliolicity, 



MEMOIRS OF 

Margaret O'Carroll, Isabella of Castile, Margaret Roper, 
Marie de L'Incarnation, Marguerite Bourgeoys, 
Ethan Allen's Daughter. 



I 

anna t. sadlier, 

Author of 1 { Names that Hive in Catholic Hearts, " etc., etc. 



" I read, before my eyelids dropt their shade, 
'The Legend of Good Women' long ago 
Sung by the morning star of song, who made 
His music heard below." — 

Tennyson. 




NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, AND ST. LOUIS : 

BENZIGER BROTHERS, 

PRINTERS TO THE HOLY APOSTOLIC SEE. 
l88 5 . 



• S 3 



The Libhaky 




Copyright, 1885, by BENZIGER BROTHERS. 



PREFACE. 



To this second volume of her series of Catholic biographies 
the author has chosen to give the title of " Women of Catholic- 
ity/' as best conveying her idea of the work on which she has 
labored with much patient research. In contradistinction to 
Julia Kavanaghs "Women of Christianity/"' wherein professors 
of all forms of religious belief — from St. Teresa to Elizabeth Fry 
— from St. Catherine of Sienna to Hannah More — are made to 
figure on the same stage, placed, as it would almost seem, on 
the same plane of moral excellence — my daughter desired to 
confine her selection of subjects to the children of the Church, 
to those women of history whose lives were spent in the practice 
of her precepts and who thus made manifest to the outer world 
the marvellous efficacy of her teachings in the formation of char- 
acter. 

In these it is something more than mere natural goodness, 
than mere moral worth, how high and how great soever, that dis- 
tinguishes their lives and actions from those of Christian women 
outside the Church ;it is the supernatural element ennobling and 
purifying all they did and all they said, that raises them far 
above all men by human excellence. This is the golden thread 
interwoven with the noble life-w r ork of an Isabella of Castile — a 
princess of great renown in her own and all succeeding times, 
on account of the masculine energy of character which im- 
pelled her to high heroic deeds for the glory of God and the 



4 



PREFACE. 



defence of His Church, softened and refined by the gracious 
sweetness and womanly tenderness which made all hearts her 
own. 

Turning from this grand and queenly figure we find the same 
all-pervading supernatural element in the lovely and loveable 
Margaret Roper, the perfect daughter of the saintly Sir Thomas 
More, her filial devotion to whom, in circumstances the most 
trying, forms the brightest gem in her immortal crown of glory. 
On the other hand, we have here Fannie Allen, the great, en- 
lightened daughter of the infidel Ethan Allen, the sweet odor 
of whose truly Christian virtues won all hearts to Christ and 
brought many of her relatives and friends to embrace the true 
faith. In her, we behold the first scion of the New England 
stock, the first daughter of the Puritans, who took the monastic 
habit and consecrated herself to God in holy religion for the 
service of His suffering members— the Hospital Sister of St. 
Joseph whose memory is in benediction amongst her Sisters in 
religion. 

Another striking example we have here in Margaret O'Carroll, 
an illustrious Irish lady of the fifteenth century, the daughter, 
wife, and mother of heroic chieftains who fought and, in some 
instances, fell, for their country and their God. A woman of a 
princely race, endowed with rare beauty of person and with all 
the accomplishments usual at that time, assisting her brave and 
pious husband alike in the government of his principality and 
in the management of their temporal affairs, promoting, at the 
same time, all works of public utility, — yet, amid all this mul- 
tiplicity of occupation, finding time for the exercises of piety 
and even for the making of pilgrimages to distant countries — in- 
calculably more of an undertaking then than now. Truly, the 
valiant woman of Holy Writ was this magnificent Irish princess 
of an elder day ! 

Lastly, the author has placed before us, in life-like reality, the 
two greatest women of Canadian — we might say of American — ' 



PRE FA CE. 



history, the celebrated Ursuline Mary of the Incarnation, not 
inaptly styled the St. Teresa of Canada, because of her high and 
mystical endowments, and the no less illustrious Marguerite 
Bourgeoys, the foundress of the great teaching order known as the 
Congregation of Our Lady. These two admirable religious, 
daughters of France, were not only great in religion, but great 
in the management of temporal affairs, wise and prudent beyond 
conception, and so eminently practical in the conduct of all 
matters of business appertaining to the public interest that they 
might be, and, indeed, were considered, the one in Quebec, 
the other in Montreal, as the Providence of the infant colony of 
New France. Both will, in due time, be raised to the altars of 
the Church, and, therefore, scarcely come within the sphere 
which the author had designed for her work in these volumes, 
viz., that of eminent Catholics, men and women, not canonized 
saints, yet whose lives were modelled in the sublime teachings 
of the Church. It is, however, on account of the important 
parts they played in the history of their adopted country and 
the benefits they conferred on their compatriots, that these 
two remarkable women are presented to the readers of this 
volume. 

As in her previous volume — Ci Names that Live," it has been 
my daughter's aim to represent different countries and different 
races in her biographical sketches, as also the several phases of 
human life and the various positions in which Christians are 
placed by the wise Providence of God. From the countless 
number of historical men whose Names will Live while the 
world lasts and of the Women of Catholicity who in every age 
and in every clime — on the throne, in the quiet walks of ordi- 
nary life, and in the cloister — have enriched the world and edi- 
fied the faithful by their example, and whose lives are so full 
of interest, only a few could be compressed into such volumes 
as these. It is generally admitted that popular biographies of 
eminent Catholics of both sexes are a great want of our time. 



6 



PREFACE. 



That these sketches, the subjects of which are carefully selected 
and treated in a pleasing and attractive manner, may help to 
awaken an interest in the lives of the truly Catholic men and 
women of history — many of them known little more than by name 
even to their co-religionists — is, I know, the earnest wish of the 
author. 

Mary A. Sadlier. 

Montreal, Canada, 
Feast of the Annunciation, 1885. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Margaret O'Carroll, an Irish Princess of the 15th century 9 

Isabella of Castile, Queen of Spain, Surnamed the 

Catholic... 29 

Margaret Roper, Daughter of Sir Thomas More, Chan- 
cellor of England 91 

Marie de lTxcarnation, Foundress and First Superioress 

of theUrsuIines of Quebec 125 

Marguerite Bourgeoys, Foundress of the Congregation of 

Notre Dame, Montreal 181 

Ethan Allen's Daughter, The First American Nun. 229 



But one there Yede in 'mid the company 

Sole by herself. But alle followed the pace 

That she kept, whose heavenly figured face 

So pleasant was, and wele shape person. 

To my sight truly, 

The lady was of my company. 

And at the laste, there began anone 

A lady for to sing right womanly 

For as me thought, among her notes swete 

She said, ( Si douce est la Mar g arete. 

And before them went minstreles every one 
As harps, pipes, lutes and santry 
Alle in grene. 

Then I was ware how of hem in grene 
Had on a crowre, rich and well sittinge ; 
Wherefore I dee??ied wel she was a Queen 
And tho in grene on her were awaiting e 

To al her company 
She made to purvey e horse and every thin ge 
That they needed 

Chaucer. 



Hawaii ITinrrttft, 

of Off ally. 

An Irish Princess of the 15TH Century. 



m 



HERE is, perhaps, no country in the world, the early his- 
tory whereof offers us a more splendid and striking pict- 
ure than that of Ireland. It is full of wild pictu- 
resqueness, of chivalry, of dramatic action, and acquires a semi- 
Oriental character from that first worship of the sun which 
the children of Innisfail had in common with Eastern na- 
tions. This Oriental character is seen in the language of 
the people, abounding in hyperbole, in imagery and in 
flights of poetic fancy. The history of Ireland in its earlier 
stages reads to a grave understanding like a poem, and 
''the light that never was on sea or shore,'' has touched 
it with its glamour. Whether we regard it at that dim, 
mysterious epoch, when Erin was known to the Druidic nations 
everywhere as c< the Sacred Island," when Belus or Crom, the 
fire-god, personified by the sun, drew to his worship innumer- 
able devotees as the May-blossoms whitened the hedges, and 
the late October stripped the trees of their leaves ; or when the 
Milesian kings dazzled the people with their half-fabulous 
doings, Ollamh the Wise and Ierial the prophet, he of the seven 
royal fortresses, and Nair's Hero who led the first expedition 
against the Romans, and Cormac Ulla or Longbeard, put to 
death by the Druids for having become a Christian ; or when 
St. Patrick " bearded the lion in his den " and lit a fire in view 
of Leary the king, who was holding the sacred festival at Tara ; 

11 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



or when the Danish invasion brought the weird mythology of 
the north to entwine itself with the superstitions of the people, 
and the semi-mythical deeds of the Vikings were intermingled 
with the feats of Irish warriors. There is a highly poetic de- 
scription taken from the chronicle of Sturleson, the Norse his- 
torian, of the landing of King Magnus Barefoot on the coast of 
Down, when he came to Ireland to wed his son, Sigurd, to the 
daughter of Murkertach O'Brien. " King Magnus," it says, 
" had a helmet upon his head ; a red shield, upon which was in- 
laid a gilded lion ; and was girt with the sword Legbiter, where- 
of the hilt was of ivory and the hand-grip wound about with 
golden thread ; and the sword was extremely sharp. In his 
hand he had a short spear, and a red silk short cloak over his 
coat, on which both before and behind was embroidered a lion 
in yellow silk, and all men acknowledged that they had never 
seen a brisker, statelier man." 

A battle afterwards took place between Magnus and the 
Irish, in which the former with his nobles was slain. The 
story of Brian Borough, who was killed at the battle ofClontarf, 
is replete with adventures as thrilling as those of any Viking, 
nor is that of his rival and successor, Malachy II., less interesting. 
He had himself conveyed to a solitary island opposite his 
favorite abode, the " fortress of shields," so that he might die 
tranquilly, far from a world which was fast fading from his 
sight. So, at that this lonely Innis-Cro, perished, as the 
ancient writer says, " the pillar of the dignity and nobility of 
the Western world." 

The Anglo-Norman Invasion, of course, opened up a new 
chapter of knightly heroism, of unquestionable patriotism, 
which had all to lose and nothing to gain, and of all the variety 
of incident and splendor of achievement which mark a long 
and ardent struggle, wherein the best and noblest portion of a na- 
tion is engaged. 

However, far from attempting to follow Ireland through the 



MARGARET a CARROLL. 



*3 



vicissitudes of her history, we shall make a halt about the be- 
ginning of the fifteenth century, where the subject of our sketch 
arrests us. At a time when a new impetus is being given to the 
study of Ireland, its history, its archaeological remains, and its 
ancient language, it will surely be of interest to obtain even a 
glimpse of one whom, in the words of a gifted historian, we 
shall call " the pious and splendid Margaret O'Carroll." 

It is unnecessary here to dwell at length upon the social and 
domestic qualities which appertain by right to Irish womanhood; 
the grace, the culture, the accomplishments, the innate refine- 
ment of a high-born Irishwoman, are enhanced in her by those 
qualities which give superiority to even the lowliest type of her 
countrywomen. We mean that feminine modesty, purity, and 
true womanliness, which combine with a warmth of heart, a 
fervor of faith, and a tender piety. The most impartial observer 
may declare that it will be an evil day for Ireland when her 
women, of whatsoever station, begin to lose their claim to such 
attributes. The Irish mother has been the fosterer of heroes, 
poets, men of action and of thought, the prelate and the politi- 
cian, the statesman and the soldier. Nor has it ever been 
known that such sons, in the proudest acme of their fame, ever 
bent with other than reverence to the Celtic mother, who had 
been their guiding star. Having said this much, we will go on 
to remark, that in the ordinary sense of the word heroine, Ire- 
land has produced but few. 

It is therefore that we single out from the shadows of many 
hundred years a female figure, who, in personal greatness, 
equals those which any other country has produced. We can- 
not attempt, with the fragmentary accounts which have reached 
us, to give such a detailed sketch as we might of some contempo- 
rary of our own, or of one even belonging to a more distant date 
whose life-annals have been completely preserved. We can 
only offer to our readers a fleeting glimpse of this extraordinary 
woman, who reigned with all the power and magnificence of a 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



sovereign, while giving to her descendants the example of a truly 
Christian life. 

It will be well to consider, in the first place, something of the 
state of Ireland at this era. It was an age no less remarkable 
for its warlike character than for its profound piety. Pilgrim- 
ages were the order of the day, and they were usually conducted 
upon a scale of great magnificence. Irish pilgrims went in 
multitudes to Rome, Jerusalem, and Compostella. It was they 
who, in 1450, on the occasion of the jubilee at Rome, brought 
back into these Western Islands the news of the capture of 
Constantinople by the Turks. We read, then, how Tregury, 
Archbishop of Dublin, proclaimed a three days' fast, and 
headed a procession of his clergy, clad in sackcloth, through the 
streets of the metropolis. Miracles were at this time recorded 
as having been wrought at the shrine of our Lady of Trim, 
while the Baculum Christi, the holy cross of Raphoe, and other 
relics at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, were the objects of 
universal veneration. It was an essentially Christian age, 
characterized by the deepest faith and piety. It had, however, 
other attributes, which by partial observers are not always con- 
sidered quite consistent with the last. It had a very passion 
for learning. This fine frenzy, as it might be termed, which 
had in the very earliest days characterized the Island, returned 
in full force when the Danish Invasions and other disturbing 
elements had disappeared. Ireland had been in the early cen- 
turies the Isle of Scholars, no less than the Isle of Saints. 
Montalembert tells us of two hundred Irish poets, known to 
fame, besides all those of whom no written record remains. In 
the 8th century, this couplet in Latin is found in the life of Sed- 
genus : 

" With love of learning and example fired, 
To Ireland, famed for wisdom, he retired." 

Had it not been for the destruction of valuable MSS. at the 
time of the Danish Invasion, as well as much later at the Refor- 



MARGARET a CARROLL. 



J 5 



mation, Irish literary remains would have been of uncommon 
value. As it is, many of them are preserved in the principal 
libraries of the civilized world. This love of learning had con- 
tinued among the people, both u noble and ignoble," down to 
the period in which Margaret O'Carroll appears upon the scene. 
The Brehons had still, as of old, the place of honor at the festal 
board, and O'Neil, O'Donnell, O'Reilly and O'Kelly vied 
with each other in the homage paid by them to the student and 
the poet, the philosopher and the minstrel. 

Hospitality was in some sense the predominant virtue of the 
age, and no greater stigma could be cast upon an individual or 
a family, than any falling off in this respect. It, indeed, at 
times almost degenerated into a vice, where it was kept up with 
a state and magnificence totally incompatible with the fortunes 
of a family. One more characteristic of the time it may be 
useful for us to mention before we proceed direct to give such 
gleanings as have fallen in our way, concerning the illustrious 
Margaret O'Carroll. This was the reverence in which women 
were held. Their influence was almost unbounded, and they 
were regarded with a certain chivalric veneration, which speaks 
very highly for the civilization of the epoch. Thus, women of 
high rank, as in the instance of our heroine, were permitted to 
retain their maiden name after marriage, giving them, as it were, 
a separate individuality, a custom long since become obsolete. 
With this single remark we turn to our subject proper. 

Margaret was the daughter of Teige, or as he is sometimes 
called, Thady O'Carroll, Lord of Ely. In common with his il- 
lustrious race for generations, he seems to have been a warrior 
of renown and a most determined patriot. Ever and anon 
throughout the fragmentary chronicles, inscribed by those al- 
most mystic hands, "the Four Masters," as well as in the notes so 
copiously furnished by the gifted antiquarian, O'Donovan, occurs 
the name and the fame of this particular O'Carroll of Ely. Now, 
he is marching against the English, as most frequently occurs, 



i6 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



or again repelling some encroachment of native tribes upon his 
territory. Here, we read of the Earl of Ormonde, march- 
ing into Ely, ravaging the country, and destroying two of 
O'Carroll's castles. There, comes the final story of his death. 
It is in battle against the English. ''A battle was gained by 
the English, " says the Four Masters/' i( over the Irish of Munster, 
in which O'Carroll, Lord of Ely, general patron of the Literati of 
Ireland, was killed." In the appended notes, the learned au- 
thor* to whom we have lately referred, explains as follows : 

" Literati does not mean clergy or priests, but poets, Brehons, 
minstrels and other classes." 

A historian f gives this more detailed account of his death: 
" The English of Ireland, with* Scroope, King's Deputy, gave 
an overthrow to the Irish of Munster by whom Teige O'Kervell, 
(O'Carroll) prince of the territory of Ely was slain. This Teige 
was deservedly a man of great account and fame with the pro- 
fessors of Potrye and Musicke of Ireland and Scotland for his 
liberality extended towards them and every one of them, noble 
and ignoble." 

Such is the quaint account of the immediate progenitor of an 
illustrious Irish woman. We can readily perceive therefrom 
that some, at least, of her high qualities came down to her with the 
good old name she had inherited. Descended from this noble 
stock, the heiress as well of worldly possessions, as of ahigh pur- 
pose, an ardent but well-directed patriotism, a personal fearless- 
ness, a magnanimity and a love of learning, Margaret O'Carroll, 
was early in the fifteenth century, married to the Calvagh O'Con- 
nor of Offally, a chieftain of high rank and of noble qualities. 
He was a direct descendant of the renowned Brogarvan, who 
was killed at the battle of Clontarf. Nor did he belie his ances- 
try. His record comprises an almost uninterrupted series of 
wars, in nearly every case against the English. Thus in 1436 



* O'Donovan, Notes to the Annals of the Four Masters, 
t Mac Geogheghan. 



MARGARET 0 : CARR OLL. 



*7 



the Annals tell us that O'Connor Faly made war upon the 
English, and in 1437 the English were brought into Offally by 
Cahir O'Connor a brother of the Calvagh, and in 1440, he 
made an incursion into Luix O'Moore's territory, where he was 
defeated by the Earl of Ormonde and MacGillapatrick. On 
this occasion he lost one of his sons, Con, who was killed with 
sixty warriors. There was mourning that day at Offally, and 
the high-hearted woman who kept almost regal state there, 
mourned her young warrior with all the passion and tender- 
ness of which natures like hers alone are susceptible. It was as 
a shadow darkening the threshold of that warlike keep of Offal- 
ly, and shutting out the light that fell thither from the green 
hills and from the blue Irish sky. 

In 1443, the Calvagh seemed to have been particularly ac- 
tive. He entered into a confederacy with the De Brimaghams 
against the common foe, the English, and as a result thereof, 
we read that the greater part of Meath was burned. This struggle 
seems to have lasted for several years with varying success, as 
when in 1445 occurs the announcement, that "the sons of 
the O'Connor Faly were defeated and Cathal 01 taken prisoner 
by the English, and many men killed, '' In 1446, O'Connor 
and the De Brimaghams are more successful, taking many pris- 
oners, but again there are reverses, and a number of distinguish- 
ed Irish fall into the hands of the foe. 

Upon this occasion, Margaret CVCarroll appears as it were, in 
a public capacity. She rode to Trim with a few followers, with- 
out the knowledge of her husband, as the annalist declares, to 
treat for the release of the Irish prisoners. She succeeded in 
effecting an exchange, giving up certain English captives for 
those of equal rank among the Irish. This, in itself, is a proof 
of what influence was placed in the hands of a woman at that 
time, and how capable she was of judiciously exercising it, even 
in matters which went beyond the usual province of her sex. 

The story of war, with its thrilling excitements, its episodes of 



iS 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



daring and its often futile valor, repeated itself from year to year in 
the lifeof the Calvagh O'Connor andhis sons. as also of necessity 
in the life of Margaret O'Carroll, to whom their conquests were 
triumphs, their danger cruel suspense, and their failures, her 
defeats. 

In 1446 the Calvagh's son was taken prisoner by the Eng- 
lish, and in 1447, "Lord Ffurnivail came to Ireland from the 
king of England with six or seven thousand English, about his 
own son and the son of the Earl of Ormonde and they forced 
O'Connor to make peace and to send many beeves to the king's 
kitchen, and O'Connor's son to be ransomed. " It is superfluous 
to continue the story farther, nor shall we more than glance at 
that still gloomier picture, the great famine of 1449, which fell 
upon the country like a pall. So dreadful was this famine, "in the 
spring of the year/' as the chronicler remarks, "that men had 
to eat all parts of herbs/''' It was followed by a great plague in sum- 
mer, autumn and winter, of which many in Meath, Munster 
and Leinster died. 

But there are more pleasing glimpses of events brought before 
the student's eye. The shadows are dark enough, but they 
only make the light the stronger. The piety of Margaret O'Car- 
roll is sung by bard and chronicler alike. It was famed 
throughout all that far countrie, and when a pilgrimage was 
organized to the shrine of St. James at Compostella in Spain, hers 
was among the first of the noble names to grace it. " The 
admirable Margaret O'Carroll," says a historian,* "was a prin- 
cipal person in this pilgrimage. '' "Many Irish of Ireland, " say the 
Four Masters f " went towards the cittie of St. James the Apostle 
to Spaine, in that summer about (with) Margaret O'Car- 
roll's daughter, Offally's wife, . . . with many other noble and 
ignoble persons. . ." 

Some of the names have come down to us, the chieftains 
O' Driscoll, MacDermott, MacGeogheghan and several of the 



* McGee. t McFirbiss's Annals. 



MARGARET G CARROLL. 



19 



Munster Geraldines, as well as Eveleen, wife of Pierce cT Alton. 
It was, in truth, "agoodlie company" and little wonder that a 
minstrel * of modern days has tuned his harp to a lay in praise 
thereof : 

" O bards and bardsmen far and near, hers was the name of names — 

The lady fair of Offally, the flower of Leinster dames, 

And she has joined the pilgrim host for the cittie of St. James." 

The poetf goes on to describe, by an effort of his imagination, 
how the Calvach, Margaret's husband, during her absence, 
wandered about overshadowed by a great dread, that his pearl of 
ladies should have fallen into the hands of the Moors. His 
fears are set at rest by a carrier pigeon, who brings tidings to 
" her good lord and husband," of Margaret's safe arrival at the 
shrine of good St. James. 

The student of history finds a peculiar fitness in the romantic 
connection which for so long and under such varying circum- 
stances was maintained between Catholic Ireland and Catholic 
Spain. Early settlers came from that far-off Hispaniola into 
the Western Islands, and from time to time individuals at least, 
among which were scions of the proudest and most ancient 
families of Ireland, went thitherward to serve as soldiers or to try 
their fortunes in commerce. But these pilgrimages wherein 
the noblest Irish chieftains and the fairest daughters of Innis- 
fail went in numbers to pay their homage at the shrine of St. 
Iago, whose name had so often nerved the Spanish chivalry in 
their contests with the infidel, form a most dramatic chapter in 
Irish annals, 

However, we learn, that "Margaret and many others returned 
safe and sound from Spain to their own houses in Ireland, 
after receiving the Indulgences at St. James." But one of the 
Geraldines and some others are mentioned as having died and 
been buried at sea on the homeward journey. 

There was of course, upon this occasion great rejoicing at 



* McGee. t McGee. 



20 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



Offally, where Margaret was regarded as the good genius of the 
place. To the poor she was a mother, to the rich a presiding 
spirit, gracing their festal halls by the rare gifts of her mind, 
and the affability of her manners. To men of learning she was, 
as we shall hereafter see, a patron of unbounded munificence. 
In the dark ages of which we hear so much, the benighted 
middle ages, it is a spectacle for gods and men to find an Irish- 
woman, animated too by a spirit of the most profound faith, oc- 
cupying herself with works which even the most highly cultured, 
the most advanced women of our own day, would scarcely 
venture to attempt, and this without losing an iota of her 
womanliness. She was no less the true and loving wife and 
mother, the benefactress of her people, the humble servant of 
Holy Church because her great mind and exalted station led 
her to undertake works of public utility, and to busy herself 
with the high whispers of state. When we say that she was an 
enlightened patron of letters, and gathered about her men of 
learning, the children of genius who so often find this earth of 
ours but an indifferent stepdame, the careless observer may sur- 
mise that the learning of that day and what it involved was a 
something very different from our own, "a darkness made vis- 
ible" in the night of ignorance. It may therefore be of interest to 
note here some of the works contained in a library belonging 
to an Irish nobleman of the 15 th century, from a catalogue 
thereof preserved at Maynooth College. Let us remark, that as 
these works were of course MSS., we may form some idea of 
the relative difficulty of collecting them. "Of Latin books/' 
says a historian,* 4 'there were the works of several of the school- 
men, the dialogues of St. Gregory, Virgil, Juvenal and Terence; 
the Holy Bible; Bcethius' Consolations of Philosophy, and St. 
Thomas' Summa; of French works, Froissart, Mandeville, two 
French Bibles, a French Livy and Caesar, with the most popu- 
lar romances; in English there were the Pollychronicon, Cam- 



* McGee, Hist, of Ireland, vol. I. 



MARGARET a CARROLL. 



brensis, Lyttletons' Tenures, Sir T. Moore's book on Pilgrim- 
ages, and several romances." Besides this there were copies of 
the Psalter of Cashel and many other Irish chronicles, lives of 
saints and so on. Though this library belonged to one of the 
lords of the pale, the historian above quoted remarks that there 
was every reason to believe that the ' ' Castles of the older race " 
were no less abundantly furnished in this respect. Having thus 
formed some idea of what learning meant in those dim ages, 
we shall presently transcribe verbatim the account given by 
one of the annalists, of Margaret and her princely hospitality.* It 
may be well at first, though it be a digression, to take a look at 
these dwellings of the Irish nobility, amongst which OrTally be- 
came preeminent. We learn that the dwellings of the chieftains 
and wealthy proprietors were often near palisaded islands, or on 
promontories moated by lakes. The houses were of wood, 
though sometimes built of stone in the Norman fashion. The 
bawn was generally surrounded by one or more strong walls, the 
inner sides of which were lined with barns, stables, and houses 
of the retainers. The castle " green," whether within or with- 
out the walls, was the scene of those athletic sports and manly 
rural games in which the youth of that time delighted. "The 
ancient OrTalia or Offaly, from Siieve-Bloom to the hill of Allen," 
says a chronicler, f "and from the Sugar Loaf Hills to the great 
Heath, is a plain nearly as level as the surface of a level sea, and 
the hill, though not high, becomes a feature in so level a dis- 
trict." The place was described as one of rare beauty, rich in ver- 
dure, yellow with grain, catching the evening glow from the hill, 
beholding the dawn breaking opal- white over the plain. It was 
an abode which a queen might have envied, and it fitted as a 
rich setting to the sovereign spirit who ruled it — the charm of 
whose memory lingers there yet, and has reached us in the tra- 
ditions of the country, as well as in the pages of the annalists 

* Annals of Four Masters for 1451. 

f O'Donovan, notes to the Annals of Four Masters. 



22 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



through all the mists with which antiquity has robed this fairy 
island of the West. 

Here follows an account of the festival held by Margaret at 
her Castle of Offally, in which is contained a lament for her 
death, and a eulogium upon her virtues. The event chronicled 
took place the very year of her demise, A. D. 145 1 

"Agratious yeare this yeare was though the glory and solace of 
the Irish was sett, but the glory of heaven was amplified and 
extolled therein, and although this is a yeare of grace (Jubilee) 
with the Roman Church, it is an ungratious and ungiorious 
yeare to all the learned in Ireland, both philosophers, poets, 
guests, strangers, religious persons, soldiers, mendicants, or poore 
orders, and to ail manner and sort of the poore in Ireland, also 
for the general support of their maintenance, decease, to wit, 
Margarett, daughter to Thady Q'Carroll, King of Ely, O'Connor 
OfTaly, Calvagh's wife, a woman that never refused any man in 
the world for anything that she might command ... It is she 
that twice in one yeare proclaimed to and commonly invited (i. 
e. ) in the dark dayes of the yeare, to win, on the feast day of Da 
Sinchell, (26 of March, in Killally) all persons both Irish and 
Scottish, or rather Albaines to two general feasts of bestowing 
both meat and moneyes with all manner of gifts, whereunto 
gathered to receive gifts, the matter (number) of two thousand 
and seven hundred persons, besides gamesters and poore men. 
as it was recorded in a Roll to that purpose, and that attempt 
was made thus, ut vidimus, namely the cheife kins of each family 
of the learned Irish was by Giiia-na-Ncemh MacRegan's hand 
the cheife Judg to O'Connor, written in the Roll, and his adhe- 
rents and kinsmen, so that the aforesaid number of 2700 was 
listed in that roll with the arts of Dan or poetry, musick, and 
antiquitie. And Maelin O'Mulconry one of the cheife of the 
cheifes learned of Connaght, was the first written in that 
Roll, and first payed or dietted, or sett to supper, and those of 
his name after him, and so forth every one as he was payed was 



MARGARET G CARROLL. 



*3 



written in that Roll, for feare of mistake, and set down to eat 
afterwards. And Margarett on the garrots of the greate church 
of Da Sinchell clad in cloath of gold, her deerest friends about 
her, her clergy and judges, too. Calvagh himself on horseback 
by the churche's outward side, and that all things might be done 
orderly, and each one served successively. And first of all she 
gave two chalices of gold as offerings that day on the altar of 
God Almighty, and she also caused to nurse or foster too (two,) 
young orphans. But so it was she never saw nor heard neither 
the like of that day nor comparable to its glory and solace. And 
she gave the second inviting proclamation (to every one that 
came not on that day) on the feast day of the Assumption of Our 
Blessed Lady Mary in harvest, at or in the Rath Imayn. and so 
we have been informed that that second day in Rath Imayn was 
nothing inferior to the first day. And she was the woman that 
has made most of preparing highways and erecting churches 
and mass-books, and of all manner of things profitable to serve 
God and her soule, and not that only, but while the world stands, 
her very many gifts to the Scottish and Irish nations shall never 
be numbered. God's blessing, the blessing of all saints, and 
every blessing from Jerusalem to Inisgluais be on her going to 
heaven, and blessed be he that will reade and heare this, for 
blessing her soule. Cursed be the son that killed Margarett. " 

We shall hereafter give our readers some verses written in com- 
memoration of this event by the gifted historian and poet, so 
often quoted in this sketch. In the meantime, let us consider 
something of Margaret's surroundings at the time when she was 
stricken by death. 

That she was happy in her immediate surroundings is certain. 
Her husband is everywhere mentioned by the chroniclers in 
tones of the highest praise. He seems to have been in every 
respect worthy of the illustrious woman he called his wife. Her 
son is thus celebrated by the ancient annalist : 

u Felim, Son to Calvagh O'Connor and Margrett aforesaid, 



24 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



the only king's son that has got most of faime, reputation and 
notable name, and that was most courageous that lived of the 
Lagenians in latter ages, died, and there was but one night be- 
twixt his and his mother's death. He died of the leprosy. Ann. 
Con." 

Her daughter, who was married to the great chieftain O'Don- 
nel, being early left a widow was again espoused to Hugh Boy 
O'Xeil, one of the most renowned captains of the day. 
Of her the Annals give the following account : " Finola, the 
daughter of Calvagh O'Connor Fally, and of Margaret O'Carroll, 
first married to O'Donnell and after to Hugh Boy O'Neil, the 
most beautiful, stately, the most renowned and illustrious 
woman of her time in all Ireland, her own mother only excepted, 
retired from this transitory world to prepare for life eternal, and 
assumed the yoke of piety and devotion in the monastery of 
Cill-achaidh.'' This monastery is now Killeigh in the barony 
of Geshill, King's County. The ruins of a nunnery are pointed 
out, adjoining the modern church. Says O'Donovan in his 
notes to the Four Masters, " I believe them to be the ruins of 
the Abbey Church." The tomb of O'Connor Faly, husband 
of Margaret, a rough marble slab, exhibiting a long inscription 
in Latin, much effaced, is shown in the old cemetery of the abbey 
just mentioned. 

But brilliant as w r ere those surroundings, we have seen the 
dark thread of human vicissitude that runs through them, the 
early death of one son, the capture of others, the cruel anxiety, 
protracted through so many years, her husband and sons en- 
gaged in perpetual warfare, and the disease, to which the historian 
rightly or wrongly gives the name of leprosy, which fell like a 
blight upon her heroic 61 first born," in the very flower of his 
youthful achievement. 

If we have, however, imperfectly made our readers acquainted 
with this heroine of Ireland's heroic age, it will be reward enough 
for us. u In these days of exhortation to female patriotism," 



MARGARET a CARROLL. 



2 S 



says McGee, 1 1 such a type of an Irishwoman in the middle 
ages will, I am sure, gain more admirers than the grotesque 
fiction which is usually made of Grace O'Malley, who is repre- 
sented in our 1 historians ' much more like a savage than the 
high-bred and high-spirited gentlewoman that she was." Sever- 
al traits of her ( Margaret O'CarroH's) character given in McFirbiss' 
Annals prove her to have been a woman of remarkable spirit and 
capacity.*' 

" She was the one woman/' say the annals, " that has made 
the most of preparing highways and erecting bridges, churches 
and mass-books, and of all manner of things profitable to serve 
God and her soul/' 

Higher praise there could be none, nor shall we attempt to 
bestow it. Margaret O'Carroll flashes meteor-like before us, 
through the vagueness and ambiguity of early MSS. chronicles, 
and we have sought to detain her but an instant that our read- 
ers may form an idea of a high-born Irishwoman, which, per- 
haps, will be at variance with certain preconceived ideas upon 
the subject. It has been the fashion unduly to depreciate or at 
least to underrate the claims of Ireland, and ofher children in many 
respects. The current of popular opinion, at all events, among 
Irish people, runs at present towards a revival of their past, 
which has been both great and glorious. It is well that they 
should therefore seek and keep before their minds whatever re- 
veals Ireland or her men and women in their true greatness. 
It is well for them likewise to believe that real patriotism and 
real love of country can never be in opposition to the warmest and 
tenderest devotion to the Faith. On the contrary, Ireland's great- 
ness as a nation, must forever be commensurate with her loyalty 
to God. The philosophy ofher history teaches us this lesson, and 
repeats it over and over again. Her great men have been, but 
with few exceptions, devout children of the Church, her women 
have been models of true piety. It is as an exemplar of all those 
qualities which adorn the Irish character when placed upon its 



l6 



WOMEX OF CATHOLICITY. 



proper basis, that we have striven to give a glimpse of Margaret 
O'Carroll. We shall conclude what we have said of her by verses 
from the pen of Canada's greatest statesman,* to whom we are al- 
ready indebted for information upon this subject. They will 
more gracefully say the last word of her than we could have 
done. We shall therefore take our leave of her with it. 

The Praise of [Margaret O'Carroll of Offally. 

The myriad shafts of the morning sun had routed the woodland fays 
And in the forest's green saloons danced the victorious rays. 
Birds, like Brendans in the promised land, chanted matins to the morn, 
And the lark sprung up with the chorus broods from the yellow fields of 
corn. 

In cloth of gold like a queen new-come out of the royal wood, 
On the round-proud- white- walled rath Margaret O'Carroll stood. 
That day came guests to Rath Imayn from afar, from beyond the sea- 
Bards and Brehons of Albyn and Erin — to feast in Offally." 

The poet describes in detail the illustrious visitors who 
flock to the gate, and are inscribed in the Roll ' ; by the Brehon of 
Offally'' s lands, whose 

" Sallow brow like a vellum book, with mystic line is traced." 

He continues as follows : 

The Calvagh at the outer gate he bids them welcome all, 

The Brehon meets them at the door, and leads them up the hall, 

The lady on the dais sits, amid her rich awards, 

Goblets, and golden harps, and ancient books for studious bards. 

For them in the green meadow-lands a thousand horses feed, 

And a golden bit and a gilded rein hangs in stall for every steed. 

* * * * c * 

Over the fields of Erin, war-horns may blow to-day. 
Many a man in town and tower may don his war-array, 



*McGee. 



MARGARET 0' CARROLL. 



-7 



The mountain-tops of Erin red alarm-fires may light, 
But no foot shall leave that hdl of peace for the track of blood to-night. 
To-morrow as to-day shall rise in melody and peace, 
The Mass be said, the cup be fill'd, nor the evening revels cease — 
For Margaret, like our lady's self unto the troubled land- 
Brings quiet in her l:oly smile, and healing in her hand. 

It is not that her father is renowned through Innisfail, 
It is not that her lord is hail'd the sentinel of the Gael, 
It is not that her daughter is the wife of the O'Xeil, 
It is not tnat her first-born's name strikes terror through the pale, 
It is not all her riches, but her virtues that I praise. 
She made the bardic spirit strong to face the evil days, 
To the princes of a feudal age she taught the might of love, 
And her name, though woman's, shall be scroll'd their warrior names 
above. 

Low lie the oaks of Offally -Rath Imayn is a wreck; 

Fallen are the chiefs of Offally — Death's yoke on every neck. 

Da Sinchel's feast no more is held for holy in the land, 

No queen-like Margaret welcomes now the drooping bardic band, 

No nights of minstrelsy are now like the Irish nights of old. 

No septs of singers such as then McEgan's book enrolled; 

But the name of Margaret O'Carroll, who taught the might of love, 

Shall shine in Ireland's Annals even minstrel names above. 



Cold is the open, generous hand 

Of her who freely gave 
Her jewels rare to trace a path 

Across the trackless wave. 
For whom the venturous fag of Spain 

Beside the cross unfurled 
Its silken folds — the first to wave 

Above the Western world. 

Religion mourns her brightest gem. 

Her shield of glory gone, 
And Spain her strength, her star of hope, 

Her purest spirit flown. 
Amid the crowned and scepter ed dead. 

The eye will seek in vain 
One loved so well, so truly mourned 

As Isabel of Spain. 



Queen of Spain, surnamed The Catholic. 

HE character of Isabella of Castile is one to which the 
world has done full justice. Few there are so base 
as to venture to malign a woman, who. in the splen- 
dors of a gorgeous court lived the life of a true disciple of 
Christ, and as a sovereign invested herself with the full 
responsibility of that office, and sought to make her govern- 
ment of Spain a truly maternal one. The interest of every 
subject was dear to her. and the welfare of his soul no 
less than of his body. But while Isabella of Castile has 
met with fairness and a certain amount of impartiality from 
her chroniclers, it is to be regretted that they have been, 
for the most part. Protestants, that is, those who have written 
of her in English. Thence it follows that they cannot 
feel a full measure of enthusiasm for Isabella the Catholic. 
They see her virtues, and the admirable results of the science 
by which she guided her life, but they fail to draw the in- 
ference. They will not admit that it was the faith she held 
which so elevated and purified her noble, natural qualities, and 
they would even seek to represent that that faith was the sole 
drawback to an otherwise perfect character. Hence, in study- 
ing the life and acts of Isabella as we find them portrayed for 
us, there is a curiously mixed feeling perceptible in what her 
biographers say of her, the natural admiration for a truly mag- 
nificent sovereign, for an exemplar}' woman, and the no less 




32 



WOMEN OF CA THOLlCITY. 



natural antipathy to her faith, and the acts which her zeal and 
piety inspired. 

Let us then, however, briefly consider her now, in a purely 
Catholic spirit. By the light of Catholic science, we shall be 
able to understand those actions, which the heretical or the un- 
believing represent as tyrannical, iniquitous, and only per- 
formed under the pressure of " ghostly influence." Isabella 
was the daughter of John II., of Castile, and his second wife, 
Isabella, of Portugal. Her father, some idea of whose reign, 
with its turbulence and its trials, may be gathered from his dy- 
ing words, that he lamented 11 not having been born a mechan- 
ic instead of King of Castile," provided for his daughter by 
willing to her the town of Cuellar, with its territory and a cer- 
tain sum of money. The dying king likewise consigned her to 
the care of her half-brother, Henry IV., who succeeded her 
father on the throne of Castile. Isabella, upon the death of her 
father, retired with her mother to a little town, Arevalo, where 
she was brought up in such a manner that the seeds of virtue 
and piety were sown in her from the first. Her youth was 
made beautiful in the sight of heaven by the observance of all 
those Christian maxims which guided her after life. In this 
calm seclusion, far from the bustle of a court, she gave forth 
the aroma of gentle piety, which was thereafter to dif- 
fuse its fragrance throughout that fair and noble Kingdom of 
Castile. 

In the course of events, her brother, whose reign was no less 
disturbed by the fury of faction than had been his predeces- 
sor's, recalled Isabella, for purposes of his own, to the court. 
Now, in the first bloom of that rare, sweet beauty so famed in 
after years, the young girl was called upon to take her place 
in an atmosphere of adulation, and worse than adulation, of cor- 
ruption to which there was scarcely any limit. Ambition was 
warring fiercely in its egotistical strife, license was at its height, 
war was shaking its grim gauntlet in the face of the nation, and 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



35 



disorder reigned supreme. Isabella became at once an example. 
Her exact performance of her religious duties, her modesty, her 
constancy to religious principle and to religious truth, soon 
made her conspicuous. A blameless life cannot, in such 
a sphere, hide its light under a bushel. Almost from that time 
forth, a series of intrigues were in progress, now to oust Henry 
from his throne, a punishment richly deserved by hisconduct,now 
to form alliances with foreign nations,now to marry the young 
Isabella to some one who would be a prop to the crumbling 
Castilian monarchy. In fact, as the years went on. Isabella was 
not without suitors. Her beauty, her excellence, her spotless 
character, were incentives, blended with her future pretentionsto 
the crown, which urged many of the princes of Christendom to 
seek her hand. Ferdinand, afterwards her husband, was offered 
as a candidate. Carlos, his elder brother, was for a time af- 
fianced to Isabella. Next upon the list was Alfonso of Portu- 
gal. It is cited by the biographers as a peculiar instance of Is- 
abella's turn of mind, that though only thirteen years of age, 
when this proposal was made to her, she at once objected to it, 
on the ground of disparity of age, and warned her unscrupu- 
lous brother that "the Infantas of Castile could not be dispos- 
ed of in marriage, without the consent of the nobles of the 
realm." * 

But a still more distasteful alliance was shortly to be placed 
before her. When she was in or about her sixteenth year, 
Henry, in conjunction with some of his unscrupulous favorites, 
conceived the design of uniting the young Princess to Don Pedro 
Giron, grand-master of the Order of Calatrava, the necessary dis- 
pensation having been procured by the latter from his vow of 
celibacy. Everything in the person and character of the new 
suitor was distasteful to Isabella, and yet despite prayers, en- 
treaties and remonstrances, the union would have actually taken 



* Prescott, Aleson, Annates de Xavarra, vol. IV. Florez, and others. 



34 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



place,and magnificent preparations were in progress for the cer- 
emony, when Don Pedro died. His death was in fact so sud- 
den that suspicions of poison were entertained, and some of the 
nobles, who had regarded his approaching elevation with envy, 
were accused of participation in the crime. It seemed, however, 
a providential interposition on behalf of the future Queen. 

About this time occurred one of those unhappy episodes in 
the history of Spain, which deluged the kingdom with blood, 
and without attaining any good result, exposed it to the hor- 
rors of civil war. The usurpation of Alfonso, brother to Isabella 
and step-brother to the king, caused an outbreak between the 
opposing parties. The conflict might have been long and 
severe, was not Alfonso, who despite his unjust pretensions was 
really an amiable and well-disposed prince, carried off by 
death. The confederates had now but one hope, Isabella. 
She had of late sought the protection of Alfonso, and on his 
death, had taken up her abode in a convent at Avila. Here 
her virtue was tested, by a proposal which might well have 
turned the head of an older and more experienced pretender 
to a crown. The confederates came to offer her their arms, 
and with fallacious hopes of success, boasted that they could 
at once place her upon the throne. To the daring and resolute 
mind of the young princess, such an offer must have been pecu- 
liarly tempting. The glittering bauble of a throne, for which 
nations have fought, and multitudes died, was placed with- 
in her reach. She had but to stretch forth her hand and 
grasp it. But the path of duty and honor was before her. 
All these years she had never swerved once from that rugged 
ascent that was leading her upwards, beyond and out of her- 
self, superior to all the allurements of earth. She declined 
the proposal resolutely and magnanimously. " While her 
brother Henry lived," she said, " none other had a right to the 
crown; that the country had been divided long enough under 
the rule of two contending monarchs; and that the death of 



ISABELLA OF CASTLLE 



Alfonso might, perhaps, be interpreted into an indication from 
Heaven of its disapprobation of their cause. " 

She declared that her most ardent desire was to see the con- 
tending factions reconciled, and dismissed the insurgents 
without hope of appeal. Other deputations came to her, other 
cities of Spain made known to her that they were ready to un- 
furl the banner in her cause — the banner which she would have 
borne so nobly, so gloriously, keeping the pennon so free from 
stain, so immaculate in its integrity. However, as the result 
of her action, Henry became reconciled to her. She was de- 
clared the heiress of Castile and Leon, a cortes being assem- 
bled for the purpose, and it was farther agreed, that her brother 
should use no farther coercion with her as to her marriage. 

Henry and Isabella met at Toros de Guisando in New Cas- 
tile. The King embraced his sister, and she took her place 
beside him as heiress presumptive to the Crown. It was an 
imposing sight. The youthful but majestic figure of the future 
sovereign, unique in that brilliant gathering, apart from ail the 
rest, above them in more than the mere title which was that 
day bestowed upon her. The nobles advanced one by one to 
kiss her hand in token of allegiance, shouts rent the air, and 
the far valleys and the deep gorges of the bill country knew 
that Isabella was to be their queen, and even the Moors heard 
it, and wondered stolidly what new change was to come upon 
the kingdom of their Christian foes. The cortes held at Ocana 
confirmed the proceedings at Guisando, and it became known 
to all Christendom that Isabella was to reign upon the throne 
of the Asturias. 

New suitors now appeared for her. The Duke of Guienne 
brother of Louis XI. of France ; a brother of Edward IV. of 
England, supposed to have been the Duke of Gloucester of in- 
famous memory, afterwards Richard Third. There were others 
besides, but Isabella had fixed her thoughts upon one, Ferdi- 
nand of Arragon, who seemed in every respect a desirable match 



36 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



for her. Moreover, young, handsome, and chivalrous, already 
noted for his daring feats of arms, and in personal character 
worthy of his kinswoman, the heart of Isabella weighed the 
balance in his favor. 

Meanwhile new disturbances arose. Henry, in perfidious 
violation of the treaty of Toros de Guisando, again sought to 
force upon his sister an alliance with the old king of Portugal. 
Ambassadors were sent to her. Every effort was made to shake 
her constancy, but Isabella, supported by her powerful friend, 
the Archbishop of Toledo,* was resolute. She had some 
rather singular allies in her determination. That is to say, the 
common people They made various demonstrations in favor 
of the marriage with Ferdinand, and "boys paraded the streets/' 
says Prescott, " bearing banners emblazoned with the arms 
of Arragon, and singing verses prophetic of the glories of the 
auspicious union. They even assembled round the palace 
gates, and insulted the ears of Henry and his minister by the 
repetition of satirical verses, which contrasted Alfonso's years 
with the youthful graces of Ferdinand/' 

But the marriage was not consummated without difficulties, 
which, in detail, it would be impossible to mention here. Suf- 
fice that we are now coming to one of the most critical and 
perilous situations in the life of our heroine. Having secured 
the assent of some of the most powerful Castilian nobles to her 
marriage, Isabella formally accepted the hand of Ferdinand, 
to the intense satisfaction of that prince, and his father John II., 
then reigning on the throne of Arragon. The articles of mar- 
riage were signed, and therein were made every stipulation, 
which could gratify the national vanity of the Castilians to win 
over the parties opposed to the marriage. Ferdinand was to re- 
side in Castile, he was to respect Henry's rights, to be guided 
in all matters of state by Isabella, and leave her, in fact, the 
sole sovereignty of her own Kingdom. Her dowry was larger 



* Alfonso de (^arillo. 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



37 



than any ever bestowed before upon the Queen of Arragon. 
Yet despite all this, Henry's anger, or more properly speaking 
that of his ministers, was aroused by these negotiations. An 
attempt was made to seize upon the person of Isabella, by her 
deadly enemy the Marquis of Villena, Henry s unworthy fav- 
orite. Spies were placed on the young princess's every move- 
ment, and at length a force was sent to Madrigal, where she 
was now living with her mother, to take possession of her per- 
son. The townspeople were warned to give her no aid, under 
pain of being treated as insurgents. At the very time when 
Isabella's hopes of happiness were fairest, she found herself 
suddenly deserted by every one, and with no friend or ally 
near to save her from deadly peril. At length she contrived to 
send news of her situation to the grand admiral of Castile, Don 
Frederic Henriquez. He, with the Archbishop of Toledo, came 
at once with an armed force, and brought her to a place of safe- 
ty in Valladolid. 

But the danger was not yet over, and the farther adventure 
of the young betrothed is more like some old chivalric ro- 
mance than reality. Word was sent to Ferdinand to hasten his 
entrance into Castile. When, however, the message reached 
him, his father's kingdom Arragon was involved in war, and it 
seemed impossible for him to reach his betrothed in safety. 
The young prince, who was, indeed, of a fearless and adven- 
turous character, set out now for Castile with half a dozen at- 
tendants all in disguise of merchants, while a second expedition, 
arrayed with all necessary u pomp and circumstance/' hastened 
in another direction, as ambassadors to Henry. Ferdinand 
and his companions had now to pass through a country patrolled 
by armed bands, whose mission it was to intercept the Arra- 
gonese. He had likewise to cross a frontier, lined with fortified 
castles, hostile to his cause. Yet the journey came happily to an 
end. A halt was made at Osma, which was occupied by some 
followers of Isabella. Here the gallant little band arrived, 



38 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



weary, well nigh overcome with cold and hunger. But a stone 
thrown from the gates above by the sentry, who did not recog- 
nize Ferdinand, narrowly missed the future King consort of Cas- 
tile. However, in due time, being now escorted by a consid- 
erable armed force, Ferdinand reached Duenas in Leon. 
There he received the homage of the friendly Castilian nobles, 
and on the 15th October, taking with him four attendants, went 
to Valladolid, where he was presented to Isabella by the Arch- 
bishop of Toledo. He remained there two hours, and returned 
immediately after to Duenas. 

Meanwhile Isabella had written an account of all that had 
transpired to Henry, assuring him that whatever she had done 
that might be displeasing to him, was forced upon her by her 
enemies, and imploring his consent to her approaching union. 

On the 19th October, 1469, Isabella and Ferdinand were 
publicly married, to the great joy of a large portion of the na- 
tion. But it is recorded that both parties were, at this time, so 
poor, that money had to be borrowed to defray the expenses. 
Who can foresee the picture, or could Castile and Leon antici- 
pate then, the glory which was to accrue from this union to 
the most Catholic Kingdom. 

The young couple began life under most unpropitious cir- 
cumstances. Henry, instigated by his ministers, commenced 
to put forward the pretensions of his daughter Joanna in oppo- 
sition to those of his sister, and to increase the former s influ- 
ence, sought for her a powerful French alliance. This, how- 
ever, came to naught through the death of the suitor, and 
though Henry secured for Joanna the allegiance of some of 
the most powerful nobles, who had, indeed, so short a time 
before vowed fealty to Isabella, we shall soon see that the 
cause of Joanna was not destined to triumph. 

But Ferdinand and Isabella had many a trial in store for 
them, before they came peaceably into possession of their rights. 
It is pitiful to think of them holding their little court at Duen- 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



39 



as, in the direst poverty, so that they could scarcely feed their 
faithful adherents who gathered around them. But they were 
not their only partisans ! The northern provinces of Biscay, and 
Guiposcoa, the province of Andalusia, and more powerful al- 
most than a province, the influential Archbishop of Toledo. 

To add to the difficulties of the situation, however, Ferdinand 
was forced to hasten to the aid of his father. The dauntless old 
monarch was sorely beset by the French, as well as other enemies. 
Isabella besought Ferdinand to proceed at once to his relief. 
But it was a sad necessity. The young wife alone, in the face 
of the perils which everywhere surrounded her, in the heart 
of a kingdom, which was a prey to anarchy in its worst form. 
Disorder, riot, violence of every description disgraced the country, 
and never was Castile in more dismal plight, than at this very 
time, when its union with Arragon gave promise of a new hope 
for the future. 

In these early years of her marriage we find in various biogra- 
phers, that charming picture of Isabeila,;which we cannot do better 
than to give in the words of one of our most classical authors.* 

" Contemporary writers, " he says, ts have been enthusiastic 
in their descriptions of Isabella, but time has sanctioned their 
eulogies. She is one of the purest and most beautiful charac- 
ters in the pages of history. She was well formed, of the mid- 
dle size, with great dignity and gracefulness of deportment, and 
a mingled gravity and sweetness of demeanor. Her complex- 
ion was fair; her hair auburn, inclining to red ; her eyes were of a 
clear blue, with a benign expression, and there was a singular 
modesty in her countenance, gracing, as it did, a wonderful 
firmness of purpose, and earnestness of spirit. Though strangely 
attached to her husband, and studious of his fame, yet she 
always maintained her distinct rights as an allied prince. She 

*• Washington Irving; Life and Voyages of Columbus, Part I., Book II., 
p. 55. — Prescott, following Spanish chroniclers, gives substantially the 
same description of her. 



40 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



exceeded him in beauty, in personal dignity , in acuteness of 
genius, and in grandeur of soul." 

" She was, '"'' says one of her household "the handsomest lady 
whom I ever beheld, and the most gracious in her manners." 
1 1 The portrait still existing of her/ 1 says Prescott, 1 ' in the royal 
palace, is conspicuous for an open symmetry of features, in- 
dicative of the natural serenity of temper, and that beautiful 
harmony of intellectual and moral qualities which most dis- 
tinguished her. She was dignified in her demeanor and modest 
even to a degree of reserve. " 

Nor does it appear that beauty was her sole attraction. 

"She spoke the Castilian language with more than usual 
elegance; and easily imbibed a relish for letters." 

However, in the course of her long and eventful reign, we 
shall note those various accomplishments, which made her the 
admiration of Europe during her epoch. Meanwhile, the 
picture given of Ferdinand is not unpleasant. He was a year 
younger than his wife, and was, in fact, only eighteen years old 
at the time of the marriage. He " was of middle stature, well- 
proportioned, hardy and active from athletic exercise. His 
carriage was free, erect and majestic. He had a clear, serene 
forehead, which appeared more lofty from his head being partly 
bald. His eyebrows were large and parted, and, like his hair, 
of a bright chestnut ; his eyes were clear and animated; his 
complexion was somewhat ruddy, and scorched by the toils 
of war; his mouth moderate, well-formed, and gracious in its 
expression : his teeth were white, though small and irregular ; 
his voice sharp ; his speech, quick and fluent. His genius was 
clear and comprehensive ; his judgment grave and certain. He 
was simple in dress and diet, equable in temper, devout in his 
religion, and so indefatigable in business, that it was said he 
seemed to repose himself by working. He was a great observer 
and judge of men. and unparalleled in the science of the cabinet/'* 



* Irving. Life of Columbus. Part I., Book I., p. 54. 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



41 



This, then, certainly was a union, upon which the united 
Kingdom might henceforth justly found proud hopes. The 
great-hearted Isabella allied to "the most subtle statesman that 
ever sat upon a throne. " It was a reign marked by great events, 
abounding in noble incidents ; and where a scope was given for 
the varied faculties of these two sovereigns, which is almost 
unprecedented elsewhere in Europe. 

The virtues of Isabella, indeed, surely and certainly won her 
a way into the good graces of all parties in the Kingdom, and 
none could deny that Spain need not hope for a worthier 
ruler. Hence, when after a partial reconciliation with Isabella, 
whom he met at Segovia, and publicly attended through the 
streets, leading her palfrey, and after even receiving Ferdinand, 
and treating him with every appearance of good will, Henry 
fell under the influence of his favorites, and suffered him- 
self to be again placed in hostility to his sister, the nation 
received the intelligence with profound disgust. But it was 
of little moment, for in a year from the time of the interview 
with his sister, in December, 1474, Henry died. 

Isabella, whose pretensions to the crown, had long since re- 
ceived the sanction of the Cortes, and who was moreover, it 
might be said, the chosen ruler of the people, proclaimed that 
it was her will to have the ceremony of coronation at Segovia. 
That 13th of December, 1474, was a glorious day for Spain. 
At the distance of centuries, we can feel the heart throbs of pop- 
ular joy that must have hailed the accession of sovereigns, who 
offered at last some surety for the peace and prosperity of the na- 
tion. Harassed and torn, as it had been, by every species of inter- 
nal dissension, and ever threatened with external assault, it turned 
now, with eager, tear-dimmed eyes strained to catch a sight of that 
regal figure, and threw itself a suppliant before the majestic Isa- 
bella. The nobles, the magistrates, the clergy assembled, and with 
joyous faces, proceeded to the Alcazar to escort thence their royal 
mistress. Isabella came forth, in magnificence of attire, suitable 



42 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



to the occasion, and mounted on a superb Spanish palfrey. Her 
bridle was held by two of the muncipal authorities, a canopy of 
gorgeousbrocade was carried over her head,and a courtier rode be- 
fore her. bearing the emblem of sovereignty, a naked sword. The 
cortege moved through the principal streets, which were throng- 
ed with spectators, and rendered gay by their motley costumes, 
and brightened with flags and banners. In the chief square 
had been raised a high, broad platform. Isabella, dismounting, 
ascended thither and seated herself upon the throne prepared for 
her. The royal standards were then flung to the breeze, a her- 
ald proclaimed aloud : "Castile, Castile, for the king Don 
Ferdinand and his consort Dona Isabella, queen proprietor of 
these kingdoms.''' The bells pealed forth with mighty accords, 
cannons boomed from the castle, and the voice of a tumultuous 
multitude hailed the advent of the new sovereigns. Isabella 
then took a solemn oath to keep intact the liberties of the realm, 
and received the allegiance of her subjects. Her first act as a 
queen was to proceed to the Cathedral ; there a solemn Te 
Deum was offered up, and Isabella prostrating herself gave 
thanks to God, and fervently begged His protection upon the 
threshold of the new existence which was opening before her. 

Throughout the Kingdom, most of the principal cities, and 
nearly all the nobles openly proclaimed their fealty to Isabella 
and her consort. Deputies came from all parts, and the new 
reign was gloriously inaugurated. Nevertheless, almost from 
the first, there were difficulties to be overcome. Even between 
the sovereigns themselves and their respective friends, a matter 
of vital importance had to be settled. This was as to whether 
Ferdinand, as the nearest male heir, possessed a claim to the 
sovereignty of Castile, or Isabella the lawful heiress, should 
possess the supreme power. The question was settled, by arbi- 
tration, in favor of the Queen, but, in fact, Isabella's womanly 
tact had more influence with Ferdinand than the representations 
of the nobles. 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



43 



But a more serious difficulty, which now had to be overcome, 
was the invasion of Castile by Alfonso V., of Portugal, under 
pretence of putting his niece, Joanna, upon the throne. The 
King's forces consisted of well-trained soldiers, and the (i flower 
of the chivalry of Portugal." Ferdinand and Isabella could as 
yet raise but few and ill-disciplined bodies of men. Besides 
the young sovereigns were but too well aware of the fatal fickle- 
ness and instability which the leading nobles had displayed 
in previous reigns. This was a time of the severest bodily and 
mental fatigue to Isabella. It is related that she sat up a great 
portion of the night, dictating to her secretaries. She had 
moreover, to make frequent journeys on horseback, being 
compelled to visit such garrison towns, as were likely to be- 
come disaffected. She knew that she had to rely for the suc- 
cess of her cause on the warm, inalterable attachment of the 
lower and middle classes to her person. By the Queen's un- 
tiring efforts a respectable force was at last assembled by the 
beginning of July. 

Meantime, the town of Toro was traitorously delivered up to 
Alfonso, though a singular instance of fidelity and heroism is 
there recorded. A woman kept possession of the fortress, and 
successfully defended it. The city and castle of Zamora like- 
wise surrended to the Portuguese. Ferdinand, without waiting 
for further misfortunes, advanced, and before the walls of Toro, 
summoned his enemy to a general engagement, or to decide the 
issue by a single combat, according to the laws of chivalry. Al- 
fonso chose the latter alternative, but through some disagree- 
ment as to certain formalities, the contest did not take place. 
This first effort of Ferdinand's was so disastrous that it well 
nigh caused the final triumph of the Portuguese. Some power- 
ful nobles openly joined Alfonso's forces, and the issue seem- 
ed more than doubtful. At the very time, when Isabella was 
the most harassed by terrible apprehensions for the future, 
a proposal was made by Alfonso, that he would relinquish all 



44 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



his designs upon the crown of Castile, on condition that Gali- 
cia should be given up to him, and that he be suffered to keep 
Toro and Zamora. It is asserted that the ministers, and even 
Ferdinand, would gladly have accepted these terms, for a worse 
ruin stared them in the face. But Isabella nobly refused to 
give up a single acre of Spanish territory, and the war went on. 
The heroic queen redoubled her efforts, and ably seconded her 
consort in ail that he undertook. A second test of her integ- 
rity as a soveerign was now granted to Isabella. She was ad- 
vised to make certain grants to her nobles and the people, 
which, when seated on the throne, she might revoke, and the 
example of other sovereigns was held before her. Isabella was 
indignant at so base a suggestion. She utterly refused to avail 
herself of such means, and declared that she would assuredly 
trust to the loyalty of her subjects. Nor was her confidence 
misplaced. Even a portion of the plate of the churches was 
placed in her hands to supply her with the means necessary for 
carrying on the war. This plate was to be redeemed after a 
term of three years. Thus did the clergy unite with the people 
in showing their attachment to their gracious Queen. It is 
impossible to follow the Castilian forces through the various 
battles of this campaign, suffice it to say, that in six months 
from the battle of Toro, the Portuguese were driven from Cas- 
tile. Ferdinand fought throughout with his accustomed valor. 
And it is related that he showed the utmost humanity to the 
vanquished. Many of the Portuguese troops, while seeking to 
escape were slain or mutilated by the Spanish peasants, in re- 
venge for excesses by them committed, on their arrival in the coun- 
try. Ferdinand gave safe passports to all, and took means to in- 
sure their safety. He likewise, with surprising magnanimity, 
supplied many of them with clothing and money, sending them 
safely back to their own country. 

Meanwhile, Isabella, hearing the glorious tidings of victory 
in her retreat at Torresdillas, ordained a public procession to the 



SAB ELLA OF CASTILE. 



45 



Church of St. Paul, in thanksgiving. She herself, with a faith 
and piety worthy of her age, and ascribed usually only to the 
primitive days of Christianity, walked bare-foot, praying fervently 
aloud, and giving glory to God. In fulfilment of a vow, she, 
in conjunction with her husband, built a noble monastery for 
the Franciscans in the city of Toledo. This structure, famed 
in Spanish history, was known as San Juan de los Reyes. 

Now was the moment of triumph for the youthful pair — Spain 
was at their feet. The disaffected nobles came cringing before 
them, the disloyal towns returned to their allegiance, and the 
new monarchs took their places upon the throne of Castilia. 

But this disastrous War of the Succession was not, however, 
ended. The restless ambition, and the baffled vanity of Alfonso, 
again led him to take up arms. In the winter of 1479, Is- 
abella, herself, with regular troops and a force consisting of what 
was called the Holy Brotherhood, took up a position near 
Truxillo, and despite all remonstrances, superintended the oper- 
ations of the army. No hardship could deter her, and when the 
danger of thus exposing her person was represented to her, she 
declared, ''That it was not for her to calculate perils of 
fatigues in her own cause, nor by an unseasonable timidity, to 
dishearten her friends, with whom she was now resolved to bring 
the war to a conclusion.'' 

Her presence, indeed, was a mainspring of action to the troops. 
All their enthusiasm was aroused at sight of her clad in armor, 
her graceful form full of the animation produced by the exhila- 
ration of battle, and the prospect of victory. To prove that 
Isabella's part in this and other campaigns was no idle boast, 
armor of hers is still shown, which offers sufficient testimony, 
that her person was really exposed to imminent peril. However, 
the war was soon after terminated by an interview held between 
Isabella and her aunt, the Infanta Dona Beatriz of Portugal. 
By this means a treaty was arranged, and the vexed question put 
at rest, as it seemed, forever. The crown of Arragon shortly 



46 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



devolved on Ferdinand by the death of his father, and thus were 
these two monarchies of Castile and Arragon united after four 
centuries of separation. 

Isabella to whom the domestic government of Castile was 
principally intrusted, now began with her usual vigor to prose- 
cute internal reforms. Such chaos prevailed in the Kingdom, 
that reforms were needed everywhere. Isabella pursued them 
with an energy which left her no rest. Each separate matter 
was settled under her personal superintendence. Her tact, pene- 
tration, delicacy, and the confidence in her perfect sincerity and 
good faith, which had already taken hold of the people facilitated 
all her schemes. Isabella could do anything with her subjects. 
A most remarkable instance of her astounding influence was that 
of the insurrection at Segovia. The citizens had revolted against 
Cabrera, Marquis of Moya, then governing the city. The out- 
works of the place were in the hands of the insurgents. The 
Princess Isabella, infant daughter of the sovereigns, and all the 
officials of the place, were compelled to take shelter in the inter- 
ior, where they were besieged. Terror prevailed. But the Queen, 
on hearing the news, set out from Torresdillas on horseback, 
accompanied by Cardinal Mendoza, and a few others* Near 
the city, some of the townspeople met her, and requested her 
to leave behind one or two of her attendants, who were obnox- 
ious to the insurgents. Isabella replied, with all the dignity of 
a sovereign, " that she was Queen of Castile ; that the city was 
hers, moreover, by right of inheritance ; and that she was not 
used to receive conditions from rebellious subjects. 7 ' 

So saying, she rode forward into the beleaguered town. The 
popular outcry now increased. The citadel was surrounded by 
a furious mob. Isabella's people were terrified. They begged 
of the Queen to secure the gates and endeavor to keep out the 
angry multitude. Isabella, instead of being dismayed, went 
down alone into the courtyard, and had the gates thrown wide 
open. The mob burst in, only to find theirroyal mistress standing 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



47 



quietly within the enclosure. She demanded of them the cause 
of the tumult : 

<£ Tell me," said she. "what are your grievances, and I will 
do all in my power to redress them ; for I am sure that what is 
for your interest, must also be for mine, and for that of the whole 
city." 

They asked for the deposition of Cabrera. Isabella declared 
that their desires would be granted, and so calmed and quieted 
the tumult, that she persuaded the people to return to their 
several occupations, advising them to send a deputation in a day 
or two, when all was quiet, to lay their grievances before her. 
Finding, on inquiry, that Cabrera was innocent of the charges 
imputed to him, she afterwards restored him to office, without 
provoking the slightest popular opposition. 

But this was not the only occasion, upon which was shown 
this fearless disposition of the Queen, and her rare gift for con- 
trolling the angry passions of factions and of individuals. In 
Estramadura and in Andalusia, a deadly feud was in progress, 
in which were involved two of the most powerful houses of the 
Kingdom, Ponce de Leon and Guzman. The feud was, indeed, 
so widespread, that a great portion of these two provinces partici- 
pated therein. It was represented to Isabella, by her adviser, 
Cardinal Mendoza and others, that she was merely exposing 
herself to unnecessary danger, by hastening to the scene of this 
turmoil. Isabella replied, that : 

ft It was true there were dangers and inconveniences to be en- 
countered ; but her fate was in God's hands, and she felt a con- 
fidence that He would guide to a prosperous issue such designs 
as were righteous in themselves and resolutely conducted." 

We have a description of the truly royal doings at ancient 
Seville on this very occasion. The citizens greeted the advent 
of Isabella, with rare enthusiasm. Those were gala days for 
Seville. Tournaments, and the various games of chivalry which 
delighted the world of old, were held during several days.. After 



48 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



the festival time was over, Isabella set herself to the real business 
of the hour. A throne was erected for her, and following a very 
ancient precedent, Isabella herself presided over the administra- 
tion of law. In the chair of state, on the platform covered with 
the cloth of gold, the young sovereign seated herself, each Fri- 
day. Trial progressed after trial with marvellous rapidity. Jus- 
tice reigned supreme. No corruption was possible. Punish- 
ment followed swiftly upon condemnation. Abuses that had 
existed for centuries were swept away ; delinquents were surprised 
in the fancied security of their misdeeds. Four thousand persons, 
as chroniclers relate, fled the Kingdom in terror of being brought 
before that stern tribunal. At last, the citizens sent deputies to 
Isabella, imploring mercy, and declaring that through the bane- 
ful influence of party spirit, and hereditary feuds, nearly all 
within the town were in some way guilty. Thenceforth mercy 
sat side by side with justice, and tempered its severity. Isabella 
at this time succeeded in putting an end, for the moment at least, 
to the long standing feud between Guzman and Ponce de Leon, 
these houses being then represented respectively by the Duke of 
Medina Sidonia and the Marquis of Cadiz. 

On some occasions, efforts were made, as of old, to tamper 
with justice. Thus a certain lord, Alvaro Yanez de Lugo, offer- 
ed in atonement for offences to pay an immense sum of money 
to the crown — a sum larger than were the yearly royal revenues. 
Some counsellors would have persuaded Isabella to accept it, 
and pardon the offender. But she refused, and left his punish- 
ment to the law. No offender, howsoever high his station, or 
extended his influence, could hope to escape the consequences 
of his misdeeds. 

Isabella, in company with Ferdinand, made a royal progress 
through the Kingdom, everywhere reforming abuses, putting re- 
straint upon the lawless, and making salutary laws. In Galicia, 
alone, as ancient chroniclers tell, fifty fortresses which were, 
more properly speaking, robbers' dens, were razed to the ground 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



49 



and no less than fifteen hundred evil-doers driven from the 
realm. 

Isabella, herself, conceived the design of utilizing a formi- 
dable institution which had been hitherto for centuries, a great 
terror to the Crown of Castile. We mean, the Santa Herman- 
dad, or Holy Brotherhood. This body was now re-organized, 
and being, of course, a military one, was used to execute the 
laws against offenders, and to strike terror into the hearts of 
those proud nobles who had been from immemoiial time, the 
tyrants of the Commonalty. Isabella, despite the fiery opposition 
of the aristocracy, caused the Brotherhood to be legalized by 
the Cortes. Henceforth, it was a powerful and efficient instru- 
ment of reform. In some of the laws against criminals, now en- 
acted under the jurisdiction of this body, it was decided that : 
" the convict shall receive the Sacraments like a Catholic Chris- 
tian, and after that be executed as speedily as possible, in order 
that his soul may pass the more securely." 

All writers testify to the sweeping and effectual changes for 
the good of the Kingdom. " This was, indeed," cries a contem- 
porary writer,* " the Golden Age of Justice, and since our sainted 
mistress has been taken from us, (it was after the Queen s death) 
it has been more difficult and far more costly, to transact busi- 
ness with a stripling of a secretary, than it was with the Queen 
and all her ministers." 

" A decree signed by two or three Judges, was since that 
time more respected than an army before." 

Isabella devoted considerable attention to the important work 
of having the code of law, hitherto insufficient and semi-bar- 
barous, revised. But one of her great enterprises, in which she dis- 
played a combined firmness, sagacity, and courage, which have 
commanded the admiration of posterity, was in restraining 
the. hitherto unlimited power of the nobility, too often put to 
base uses. They were forbidden to erect new castles, to make 



* Oviedo, Quincuagenas MSS. 



5° 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



war upon each other, or to engage in duelling ; this was in 
fact, a practice, against which the most stringent laws were di- 
rected, laws always carried oat with the utmost impartiality. The 
nobles on one occasion, petitioned the sovereigns to repose 
more confidence in their order, and to cease from imposing such 
restrictions upon them. The reply was haughty and concise. 
It lefc them the option to retire from the court if they wished. 

It is our province/" said the sovereigns, "to determine who are 
best entitled to preferment, and to make merit the standard 
thereof.'' 

The financial reforms, which also obtained, were chiefly con- 
ducted by the Queen's confessor, Ferdinand de Talavera. He 
was a man of austere and saintly demeanor, of tried sanctity, as- 
cetic in his habits, prudent in his counsels, and ever aiding his 
royal penitent, by his wisdom and rectitude, to steer the barque 
of state through troubled waters. 

It was in this auspicious reign that trade was put on such a ba- 
sis, as to produce an almost magical transformation in the com- 
mercial prosperity of the country. The adulteration of the 
coin, and the various other deplorable abuses for which the pre- 
ceding reigns were responsible, had, commercially speaking, 
laid waste the country. " To Isabella, " says Prescott, "was 
principally ascribed this auspicious revolution in the condition 
of the country and its inhabitants, which seems almost as magi- 
cal as one of those transformations in romance wrought by the 
hands of some benevolent fairy.*'' 

In fact, while Ferdinand and Isabella established on a firm 
basis, the pre-eminence of the monarchy they left no order of 
the people, no institution, no province nor city unbenefited by 
their salutary interference. Every abuse, with the minutest de- 
tails thereof, came under their personal notice, every reform 
was made under their direction. It would be impossi- 
ble to follow this branch of our subject at any greater length, 
and as we have many important episodes in the history of our royal 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



5* 



heroine to chronicle, we shall turn aside here for a moment to 
glance hastily at Isabella, as she appeared at home, in that 
court over which she presided so graciously and with such 
truly maternal solicitude : She made herself beloved by every- 
one who was brought into contact with her. While her great 
qualities might have dazzled, and her wonderful vigor and en- 
ergy in the conduct of public affairs repelled, her gentleness, her 
womanliness, andgraciousness, universally attracted. There was 
a largeness of heart, a truly royal generosity about her, that won 
love as imperatively as her piety, her modesty, her devotion to 
God and the interest of holy Church, commanded respect and in- 
spired confidence. The ladies of her court were her children. She 
watched over their every act, and shielding them from the too of- 
ten pernicious influence of a life of splendor, encouraged them to 
rise, even above those natural qualities, which in the standard 
of the world pass for virtues, into the more exalted sphere of 
true Christian piety. Her maids of honor were u educated un- 
der her own eye, " and on their marriage, she endowed each 
of them, with a liberal marriage portion. The atmosphere of 
the court, was now completely purified. All the evil of the 
previous regime was purged thence. Justice and sobriety reigned 
supreme. Vice was banished. The slightest approach to 
licence repressed. Gambling, which had been the ruin of so 
many, hitherto, was now forbidden. The King and Queen 
were alike remarkable for their simple and temperate habits, 
both as to dress and the table. There was no luxury, no extrava- 
gance, no excess of what kind soever. It is true, when oc- 
casion demanded, Isabella and her royal consort appeared ap- 
parelled in a magnificence, which seems to us now all 
but fabulous, if we trust to the testimony of contemporary 
writers. But this Li pomp and circumstance'"' w r as in season, 
and befitted the public events of a monarchy rapidly becom- 
ing the grandest in the universe. What a majestic figure is 
that of Isabella, standing already at the pinnacle of human 



52 



WOMEN OF CA TJJOL1CITY. 



greatness, her outstretched hand as it were touching the con- 
fines of civilization, and leading withal the humble, pure 
and mortified life of a practical Christian. The affairs of state 
were for her, so many paths leading into eternity. Each one 
she had to utilize for her own everlasting welfare. She had the 
souls of her subjects to save, she had the destinies of an Empire 
to control. Every insignificant act was fraught with terrific re- 
sponsibility. In all the concerns of her life, she sought direc- 
tion, where the humblest Catholic may seek it, in the Confess- 
ional, from the ministers of God. Hence the extraordinary 
strength she displayed in pursuing the rugged path of public 
righteousness. Hence her integrity, upon which her subjects so 
confidently relied, her adherence to principle, to justice, her con- 
stancy in the paths of truth and right. Her statesman craft she 
learned at the foot of the Altar, before the hidden Lord of the 
Tabernacle, or from the mouth of his servant in the sacred Tri- 
bunal. The "ghostly influence,'' of which the enemies of God 
complain, was the helm that steered this noble ship through 
troublous waters. Without it, there must have been lamentable 
shipwreck. No unchristian queen, nor simply indifferent queen 
could have avoided those shoals and breakers. Only a re- 
ligious sovereign, a deeply and thoughtfully religious one, 
could have saved Spain then. She showed it the upward path, 
to the earthly grandeur it afterwards attained, and to the solid 
Catholic stability of principle, which preserved it for so many 
centuries, from the curse of godless doctrines, and the innu- 
merable evils following in its train. 

Happily for Isabella, the principles and ideas of Ferdinand 
coincided in all important respects with her own. He, too, was 
a practical Catholic. Were confessors the ruling power at courts, 
there would be few revolutions. Did 4 ' ghostly influence " pre- 
vail,the groans of the populace would not so often be drowned in 
the effeminate and sometimes riotous revelry of a godless court. 

We now come to a chapter in the history of Isabella which 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



53 



has been subjected to more adverse criticism, than anything 
in modern annals. Protestant and other non-Catholic critics 
have exhausted themselves in vituperation of an institution, 
which impartial judgment must admit, was in some degree re- 
quired by the exigencies of the age. The present is not a time 
to advance arguments for or against the much belied Inquisition. 
Neither will space permit us to dwell long upon its advan- 
tages. Modern bigotry execrated it. But that proves nothing. 
On the other hand it tempts us to inquire whether a really harm- 
ful institution, that is, harmful to religion or morals, or to the 
true interests of humanity, would have provoked such an out- 
cry. That in some cases the salutary power of this restraining 
agency was abused, we freely admit. That abuses did arise 
thence, may be granted. But that the Inquisition was wholly 
harmful, altogether iniquitous, or in that age and country even 
unnecessary, we emphatically deny. 

To transport ourselves into Spain just then, might clear up 
many doubts upon this subject. Anarchy and wild disorder 
ran riot. The holiest interests of the nation and of the individ- 
ual were at stake. Religion, Christianity, must have perished. 
Every evil was present, and no remedy. In many cases, the 
King and Queen, these model rulers, were compelled to resort 
to devices which now would seem strange, perhaps inexcusable. 
As an instance we may give the employment of the Santa 
Hermandad in the work of reform. Is any outcry raised against 
them ? No. The excuse is ready. Exceptional evils, required ex- 
ceptional remedies. Was it, then, only when the interests of God 
were at stake, that some measures of restraint became unnecessary ? 
Was crime to be permitted to lay waste the territory of the 
Most High alone ? Were offences against Him only to go unpun- 
ished ? Were evil doctrines, infidelity, the scourge of our so- 
called enlightened days, errors of all kinds, to be freely pro- 
mulgated among the people, engrafted upon their ignorance ? 
Was their faith, the sole preservative left them, to be tampered 



54 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



with ruthlessly ? We say, no. Some safeguard, some break- 
water was needed, or the deluge of corruption and unbelief would 
have swept Spain into an abyss of universal ruin. Nor does 
the political aspect ofthe Inquisition seem less justifiable. Only, 
we may remark, that thence arose those abuses, which have 
made the Inquisition a bugbear to liberalism. The false liber- 
alism, which leaves room in the universe for everything but 
God. It protects all other interests but those of the Omnipo- 
tent, would give liberty to all but the workers in God's service. 

The Inquisition, of course, had been established at a much 
more remote period than that of which we write, but, as it was 
revived, and put into active operation during the reign of 
Isabella, we are therefore, concerned therewith. Some of its 
enactions were directed against the Jews, a hapless people, 
who, indeed, in the more remote ages were constantly subject- 
ed to persecution. Far, indeed, be it from any Catholic to 
approve of any spirit of intolerance shown against a people 
whose misfortunes were too often the result of mere popular prej- 
udice. That such a spirit is not Catholic, has been amply 
proved even in modern times, when the Popes have shown their 
opposition to all anti-Semetic outbreaks, and openly protected 
the Jews. But in those early days, there is no doubt that they 
were inconstant conspiracy with the enemies of the State. They 
fraternized with the Arabs to an astonishing extent, and we find 
these facts stated, again and again, by those who most loudly 
denounce the Sovereigns of Spain for their decrees against them. 
Thus Prescott * speaks of tl the Saracenic invasion, which the 
Jews, perhaps with reason are accused of having facilitated. " 

He continues at length to prove that the Jews harmonized, in 
spirit and in act, with the Moslem enemies of the kingdom. A 
careful examination of the workings of the Inquisition, which 
it is useful for every Catholic to make, as far as lies in his power, 



* Life of Ferdinand and Isabella, Vol. I. chap. II. p. 191-2. 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



55 



will reveal gross exaggeration and wilful misrepresentation, in 
the charges brought against it. Very often they are malicious 
calumnies invented by those who had private grievances against 
the government or Church, or ever since that time in mere 
hatred of religion. Never was evidence so distorted, never was 
there such patent hearing of false witnesses, and of prejudiced 
testimony as in this matter of the Inquisition. All statements 
which militated against it were received with eager, open- 
mouthed avidity by chroniclers outside the Church, modern as 
well as ancient. They lest sight at once of fairness and impar- 
tiality when there was question of the Inquisition ; no old wife's 
tale was too improbable to be swallowed. They boast of their 
enlightenment, and they accept with a species of superstition 
which attaches to the theme, fictions that even in a barbarous 
age could only have gained credence from an ignorant multi- 
tude. 

Long before the accession of Ferdinand and Isabella, there 
had been a popular outbreak against the Jews. Allowing for 
the blind prejudices of a mob, there must have been something 
in the charges which led to this outbreak. It was closely fol- 
lowing upon this tumult that St. Vincent Ferrer, converted, 
as it is related, thirty-five thousand Jews, to which sneering 
allusion is made by a historian, who might well be above the 
pettiness of such ill-timed sarcasms, against a great religious 
episode. Were there not many of old who stood by and mocked 
when Peter and Paul were gathering beneath the banner of the 
Crucified those thousands of neophytes? However, on the tes- 
timony of this same biographer,* the converted Jews were often 
raised to important positions of trust in the kingdom, under 
Ferdinand and Isabella, and intermarried with the first Castilian 
families. 

It is astonishing to find historians of high character accepting 



*Prescott, vol.1., chap. VII., p. 195. 



5 6 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



the testimony of Llorente, a bad, disgraced priest, and a most 
untruthful witness in matters relating to the Inquisition. He 
had himself held office therein, and was dismissed for misappro- 
priation of the funds, hence his malice. Do any of those who 
quote him assign a cause for his deadly hatred of the institution, 
and his wilful perversion of facts ?* 

In support of the pure motives with which this Tribunal was 
established, we have the character of Isabella, noble, magnan- 
imous and inspired with the broadest Christian charity, the wise, 
politic, almost too cautious character of Ferdinand, usually so 
moderate and so prudent in its acts, and so inspired like his 
consort, with a sense of responsibility in his government of the 
country. We have the wisdom and the virtues of Cardinal 
Mendoza, one of the chief advisers of the sovereign, who could 
not have been in ignorance of the establishment of such an in- 
stitution. ''The conduct of this eminent minister" in this 
affair, says Prescott, "seems to have been equally politic and 
humane." And we have the broad enlightenment and statesman- 
ship of the immortal Ximenes. 

Every fact of the life and reign of Isabella, so sincerely good 
and useful to her countrymen, is a proof that this institution was 
a political and even, perhaps, religious necessity of that lawless 
and hardened age. If " ghostly influence" had hitherto led 
the Queen well and wisely in paths which few sovereigns have 
had the courage or magnanimity to tread, if it continued to 
guide her steps in all righteousness and Godliness, why should 
the same influence have urged her to the commission of such an 
enormity, without the shadow of extenuation, as some histori- 



*" Don Juan Antonio Llorente," says Prescott, " is the only writer who 
has succeeded in lifting the veil from the dread mysteries of the Inquisi- 
tion." It would be more in accordance with truth to say, that the ex-secre- 
tary of the Tribunal was he who had most shamelessly perjured himself 
in its regard. 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



5? 



ans would represent the Inquisition to have been. However, 
before its actual establishment, we mean in the reign cf Isabella, 
various measures were resorted to under the Queen's direction, 
and that of Cardinal Mendoza, to lead heretics by more gentle 
means into the way of truth. A catechism was specially 
compiled, and the clergy were urged to neglect no means 
which might tend to the conversion of Jews, or unbelievers of 
what kind soever. In January, 148 1, an edict was finally issued 
requiring all to assist in apprehending persons guilty of the sin 
of heresy, or of inculcating false doctrines. We would consid- 
er such a decree now, tyrannous and unjust. So would it un- 
doubtedly be, in our day, under present circumstances, with 
our actual views of life. So we cannot pronounce it positively 
to have been unless we go back centuries, and find ourselves 
in the precise surroundings in which Isabella found herself, 
hampered by the same difficulties, beset by the same perils, 
burning with the same zeal for the salvation of her neighbors. 
For a soul such as hers to find that a deadly poison was being 
slowly but certainly diffused amongst her people, was no or- 
dinary trial. Had the poison been material, no outcry would 
be made against the sovereign for punishing offenders. Ex- 
traordinary it is how little the spiritual weighs in the balance of 
the world. It is a praiseworthy act to save a man from suicide, 
it is culpable to save him from eternal death ; it is laudable to 
punish with death one who deprives his fellow-man of the life 
of the body, but criminal to chastise, even by minor penalties, 
one who deliberately and of malice aforethought kills his 
neighbor's soul. 

As, how r ever, the Inquisition has always been considered a 
stigma upon the Church, we may mention here that many 
of the victims of the Tribunal escaped into various countries of 
Europe, and there appealed to the Sovereign Pontiff, Sixtus IV., 
against the severity of its decisions. Some of them even went 
to Rome, and remained there under the protection of the Pope. 



5 S 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY, 



Yet the Pope, who nobly sheltered these people in the time of 
their adversity, by no means disapproved of the Inquisition. 
On the contrary, he approved its general character and acts, 
only remonstrated against any harshness, or excess of zeal. He, 
in fact, threatened, if any such excess was duly proved, to re- 
move the Inquisitors, and rebuked them for intemperate zeal. 
Later on, in 1483, he wrote to Isabella, encouraging her in 
the work she had undertaken, and giving her a special blessing. 
There is no doubt that he was convinced of the necessity and 
utility of the Inquisition. History proves that the Popes were 
always upon the side of the oppressed. In no case that can be 
quoted did they take part with the tyrant. Wherever legitimate 
liberty was desired, the Popes were on the side of the weak. In 
this single instance it is not likely that the SovereignPontifF would 
have acted in opposition to the policy ofhis long line of predeces- 
sors. Taking the array of virtue, learning, justice and moderation 
which were on the side of the Inquisition, considering that 
much information upon the subject has been derived from the 
infamous Llorente, who admits having destroyed all documents 
relating thereunto, and others of his stamp, that an oft-quoted 
writer thereupon is the Christ-hating Voltaire, what are we to 
conclude ? That we must be cautious in basing our opinion 
upon the scources of information nearest at hand, which are 
often unworthy of credence, and believe that in its original 
intentions the Inquisition was good, in its acts much more le- 
nient and merciful than many civil courts in various parts of 
Europe at the period ; that its punishments, which appear 
to us most horrible now, were commonly used for the most triv- 
ial offences in the ordinary courts of law throughout mediae- 
val Europe, that no persons were put to death by the Inquisi- 
tion, but that the hardened and contumacious were handed 
over to the secular power. More than all, that many statements 
published in regard to it are false. 

That the abuses charged upon it arose from many causes, 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



59 



above all from the wild and turbulent character of the times, the 
lawless condition of the kingdom., and as we have said before, 
the political elements which entered into its composition. 
That it leaves no stain upon the character of Isabella is obvious. 
What she did in regard to it, was done with the purest motives. 
That allowing for some sternness or harshness in the conduct of 
Torquemada, the most famous Grand Inquisitor, his motives 
and his personal character were blameless. He, the bugbear 
of the heretical child, was, in point of fact, a devout, religious 
man, inspired with a mighty zeal for the conversion cf souls, 
and the saving of the kingdom from the curse of unbelief. As 
time goes on, and light is thrown clearer and stronger, year by 
year, on the dark places of the past, when the human mind 
becomes superior, if it ever does, to the weakness of accepting 
any fable which harmonizes with its own prejudices, and throw- 
ing aside the sober testimony of facts, the Inquisition will be 
cleared of much of the odium that rests upon it, and even the 
mucn-abused Torquemada will stand out as a man whom 
deep religious earnestness, and profound conviction of the van- 
ity of all but spiritual things, led to the adoption of means, 
repugnant, most heartily repugnant to us now, but by no means 
discordant to the spirit of his age, and the circumstances of the 
country wherein he lived. Enough of the Inquisition. 

We have now to follow the gracious and beautiful Isabella 
through a phase in her military experiences, which is more 
than any other connected with her name. Those Moorish 
wars, which ended in the fall of Granada, so prolific as they 
are in poetry and romance, in weird pathos, in picturesque 
heroism, in thrilling feats of arms, in noble enthusiasm, in 
dauntless valor, in all those elements which mingled in this 
conflict, and have woven an imperishable wreath around the 
name of Isabella. It is an inexhaustible theme. The beautv 
and luxuriance of that kingdom of Spain, fair as the gardens of 
the terrestrial Paradise ; those wild Sierras, those richly flowering 



6o 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



Vegas, those streams so silvery and so bright, that they might 
have been the water which flows through the fabled Mahome tan 
Paradise ; the gorgeous magnificence which came of the Orien- 
tal sway of the Moslem, the barbaric splendor of the Alhambra, 
of the Generalife all unite to make the theatre of this war, one 
which combines whatever can attract the imagination, and ap- 
peal to the lover of the romantic. That Granada, with its walls, 
flanked by a thousand and thirty towers, and its alhambra rest- 
ing upon the brow of the hill, now a ruin, then a palace, with 
all the magnificence in which the monarchs of the East rev- 
elled ; the streets of the town, with their high lofty houses of 
marble adorned with glittering metals. Those streets of Gran- 
ada, cry the Moorish chroniclers, enthusiastically, " glittered 
like stars through the dark foliage of the orange groves/' 
There is no city in history that has so interested the poetic and 
imaginative, as thai hapless capital of Moslem power. There 
is a wild and a mystical romance about it, and in the sad-eyed 
Moors, who are supposed to haunt it still, there is a charm 
which makes us forget that these " infidels" were the deadly- 
foes of Christianity, that the city of Granada, compared as it has 
been to " an enamelled vase, sparkling with hyacinthes and 
emeralds/' was once the lurking place of those warriors who 
did to death the flower of Christian chivalry, and whose inroads, 
if not arrested, would have been fatal to the fortunes of Christ- 
endom. The most sober historian is fain to forget all facts in 
presence of this romantic story of the Moorish wars. Those 
streams of the Xenil and the Darro, that luxurious Vega de 
Granada, have each a curious fascination about them. They are 
interwoven with the varied incident of a people's fall, and the 
rise of a new empire. The mind is never tired of dilating upon 
the glories of those ancient days, when the valorous Ferdinand 
and the lion hearted Isabella stood forth at the head of the 
kniffhtliest band that ever Christendom has seen, to combat 
foes, knightly, too, in all their unbelief, and so often t in the 
vicissitudes of war, proved chivalrous. 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



61 



We are about to take a bird's-eye view of this celebrated 
struggle for Christian or Moorish domination in Spain, and to 
catch brief glimpses of the magnificent Isabella making war 
upon the infidel, in all the splendor of her youth, beauty, and 
magnanimity. No more chivalrous soul ever broke a lance for 
God and country. The woman is forgotten, to be remembered 
only when the wounded, or the captive, or the wretched, appeal 
to that generous heart, which never heard appeal in vain. The 
sovereign is before us in her full majesty, with the old fiery 
Castilian blood throbbing in her veins, and the proud, tumul- 
tuous Castilian heart leaping at sound of battle, and the ardent 
Castilian faith, eager to overcome only that it may convert 
those hapless Moors, who in the sensual delights of an earthly 
paradise, live heedless and ignorant of a spiritual life to come. 
Granada and those Moorish cities of the past are a fitting stage 
for Isabella to play her part. None other would have beseemed 
her. Her every quality is brought out into full relief, the 
strong and the gentle, the masculine, and the intensely wom- 
anly, the romantic, the religious, the poetic, the chivalrous ; 
her high soul, her dauntless heart,her lofty intellect are all brought 
into play. She is a heroine suited to her times and to her 
surrounding. Bright with the splendor of the old mediaeval 
faith, dark with the turmoils that gathered about it, resplen- 
dent with the glory of the Christian arms, dim and obscured 
with the tears of Araby, gorgeous with the jewels, and the 
broideries and the gems of the Orient, shining brighter yet with 
the lustre of a Christian court, encircled by fabled streets, gar- 
dens, rivers, perfumes, incense, the indescribable luxury of the 
Moslems, the ineffable sweetness of its own soft climate, by 
everything that is beautiful and picturesque, we have a picture 
of Spain, forming a back-ground for the gracious figure, the 
noble and majestic face of Isabella the Catholic. 

In the time of Aben Ismail, the Moorish ruler during the 
two last reigns in Castile, the Christians and the Saracens 



62 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



were at peace, and it is asserted that the grandees of Spains did 
not disdain appearing at the court of Granada, and taking 
part in tournaments and other games of knightly prowess. 
But all was changed. The fiery Muley Abul Hacen was on the 
Moslem throne. The old hatred of Christianity, springing up 
in the heart of the monarch, descended through him to the 
meanest of his subjects. Abul Hacen became the aggressor, and 
sent an expedition into Andalusia. He had chosen his time 
badly. Spain was once more restored to something like order. 

Ferdinand and Isabella were eager for an opportunity to drive 
the crescent back into the deserts of Africa. The united king- 
doms of Castile and Arragon were ripe for combat. Hundreds 
of knights, belonging to the proudest Spanish families, whose 
natural ardor and thirst for glory had been restrained by the 
restrictions imposed upon the nobles, were now eager for new 
and more honorable fields of prowess. They awaited but the 
signal, and like the war horse, " scented the battle afar off." 

One wild, tempestuous night, the 26th December, 148 1, 
when the wrath of Heaven seemed sweeping over the earth, and 
the Spanish guards were at rest within the walls, the Moors 
scaled the ramparts of Zahara, a town in Andalusia. The 
surprise was complete, the disaster unmitigated. All the in- 
habitants of the place, soldiers and citizens, men and women, 
were carried into captivity. This was but two years after the 
time that the same Muley Abul Hacen had replied to the Span- 
ish Sovereigns when they demanded their yearly tribute : 
"The mints of Granada coin no longer gold, but steel." 

His boast seemed justified by this first of a long train of warlike 
achievements. Yet it is said that an aged Alfaki, cried out 
on hearing of this primal victory : 

"Woe is me ! the ruins of Zahara will fall upon our own 
heads ; the days of the Moslem empire in Spain are now num- 
bered." 

His prophetic words found an echo not only among many of 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



63 



his own race, but in Castile. The Moors had now to reap the 
whirlwind. The chastisement of this first audacious act was 
speedy and severe. The taking of the fortress and city of Al- 
bania, by the Marquis of Cadiz and his followers, was attended 
with circumstances of extraordinary daring and reads like a 
romance. Alhama was in the very heart of the Moslem terri- 
torv and not far from Granada itself. The marquis marched 
thither, with a small but carefully chosen force, and did not 
reveal his actual purpose to his men, till they were close to the 
place. In the darkness, and like the invaders of Zahara, in the 
midst of a furious storm, the Spaniards seized upon the fortress 
and entered with colors flying and drums sounding. The city 
was awakened too late. The townspeople, however, made a 
long and desperate resistance, but Spanish bravery prevailed, 
and that important fortified place fell under the Spanish domin- 
ion. It was a city celebrated for its baths, which yielded an 
enormous revenue to the Moorish sovereigns. There was even a 
royal residence there and this doomed Alhama had been, in- 
deed, an abode of delights. The King and Queen heard the 
news in Castile with delight. They proceeded with the principal 
nobles, and a number of the clergy, to sing a Te Deum and 
give public thanks to God for the victory. But they likewise 
resolved to send forces at once to the relief of Alhama, on which 
the Moor Abul Hacen was already preparing to make a de- 
scent. 

And, in fact, before any Spanish troops could reach their breth- 
ren, the Moors had blockaded Alhama, after unsuccessful ef- 
forts to take it by assault, and had almost entirely cut off the water 
supply. The want of provisions likewise completely disheartened 
the Spaniards, and had it not been for the indomitable spirit 
of the -Marquis of Cadiz, the enterprise must have been aban- 
doned. The relief of Alhama by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, 
the hereditary foe of the Marquis, is one of the most dramatic 
situations in all Spanish history, besides furnishing a noble speci- 



64 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICTTY. 



men of true patriotism, and forgetfulness of personal grievances 
in a great cause. When the town was rescued from its evil straits 
the leaders embraced in presence of their armies, and pledged 
themselves to bury past differences forever. 

However, the Spanish forces shortly evacuated Alhama, leav- 
ing only a small detachment of the Santa Hermandad, 
under Don Diego Merlo. News now came that the Moorish King 
Abul Hacen had again advanced upon Alhama, which was a 
second time beleaguered. Ferdinand now made all haste to ad- 
vance thither. Isabella was the life and soul of the enterprise, 
hastening hither and thither, urging, entreating, almost compell- 
ing the crown vassals to take part in the glorious strife. When 
it was suggested that Alhama should be abandoned as untena- 
ble, Isabella exclaimed that : 

" Glory was not to be won without danger. The present 
war was one of peculiar difficulties and danger, and these had 
been well calculated before entering upon it. The strong and 
central position of Alhama made it of the last importance, since 
it might be regarded as the key of the enemy's country. This 
was the first blow struck during the war, and honor and policy 
alike forbade them to adopt a measure which could not fail to 
damp the ardor of the nation.'' 

Her words were received with enthusiasm, and before long we 
find Ferdinand marching victoriously into Alhama, without having 
struck a blow. The entrance was made with pomp and splendor, 
and was followed by the purification of the three principal 
mosques, and their dedication as Christian Churches. Isabella with 
joyful heart sent thither the sacred vessels, and worked with her 
own hands an altar cloth for that new temple dedicated to Santa 
Maria de la Encarnacion. The thought that the sacrifice of the 
Mass was soon to be offered there, in those dim old Moorish 
temples, and that their arches would ring with the praises of 
Mary Immaculate, was honey and nectar to the great soul of 
Isabella, athirst as it was for the glory of the Catholic faith. 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



65 



She made no secret that in these wars she sought the propaga- 
tion of true religion and the conversion of the infidel. 

Meanwhile Ferdinand prepared for new conquests and the 
Queen sent out fleets to cut off the Barbary coast, while busying 
herself in arousing the provinces and taking other measures to 
insure the success of the undertaking. The expedition to Loja, 
however, in which Ferdinand displayed great prowess, and con- 
siderable coolness, was both rash and ill-advised, and ended 
in a complete victory for the Moors. 

But internal dissensions among the Moslems now began to 
weaken their cause. Boabdil, the oldest son of Abul Hacen, was 
proclaimed in his stead and from this arose a deadly feud between 
the parties. 

Some time after, the Spaniards met with dire disaster in the 
Axarquia. The tale is too long to tell, full of thrilling incident, 
of vainly glorious achievement. Suffice it to say that Andalu- 
sia offered up a hecatomb of martyrs. There was scarcely a 
family in the province but had to lament a member. How- 
ever, the forces of the Moslems received an equal check before 
Cabra. They lost their renowned leader, All Altar, surnamed 
"el Morisma," and the young King Boabdil was taken prison- 
er. There was, moreover, terrible loss of life on the Moorish 
side, and abundance of spoils fell into the hands of the Christians. 
Amongst the rest, nine, or some say twenty-two Moslem banners 
were captured. Hence the sovereign granted to the Count of 
Cabra the privilege of bearing on his shield the same number 
of pennons, "with the head of a Moorish King, encircled by a 
golden coronet, with a chain of the same metal round his neck." * 

The hapless Boabdil was afterwards released, on terms far 
from being honorable to himself or advantageous to his country. 
He, in fact, consented, virtually, to aid the Spaniards in their 
war upon his father. An interview was granted him with Ferdi- 



* Prescott, vol. I., p. 273. 



66 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



nand, and when it was suggested to the latter that Boabdil 

should be made to kiss the Castilian monarch's hand as a sign 
of the latter's supremacy, he replied. " Were the King of Gran- 
ada in his own dominions. I might do this : but not while he 
is a prisoner in mine." 

Tne Count of Cabra on his return, after this expedition, was re- 
ceived with unparalleled honors. The nobles and the clergy went 
out to receive him, and he appeared before their majesties on the 
right hand of the Cardinal of Spain. The King and Queen ad- 
vanced to meet him in the audience chamber, and placed him 
at a table with themselves, saying that " the conqueror of kings 
was worthy to sit with kings." 

Isabella, who was indefatigable in her labors, took under her 
control the provisioning of the forces in Moorish territory. 
Hence: 

"The Queen/" says Prescott, "moved along the frontier, 
stationing herself at points most contiguous to the scene of op- 
erations. There, by means of posts regularly established, she 
received hourly intelligence of the war. At the same time, she 
transmitted the requisite munitions to the troops, by means of 
convoys sufficiently strong to secure them against the irrup- 
tions of the wily enemy. Isabella, solicitous for everything that 
concerned her people, sometimes visited the camp in person, en- 
couraging the soldiers to endure the hardships of war, and re- 
lieving their necessities by liberal donations of clothes and 
monev. She caused, also, a number of large tents, known as 
•' the Queen's hospitals ' to be always reserved for the sick and 
wounded, and furnished them with the requisite attendants and 
medicine, at her own charge. This is considered the earliest 
attempt at the formation of a regular camp hospital on record. n 

•'•Isabella/" he continues, "may be regarded as the soul of 
this war. She engaged in it with the most exalted views, less 
to acquire territory, than to re-establish the empire of the Cross 
over the ancient domain of Christendom." 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



67 



Nor would she permit any other purpose to divert her atten- 
tion from this central one. When the King would have en- 
gaged in war with Louis of France, Isabella dissuaded him, and 
shamed the grandees of Spain into continuing the conflict with 
the Moors, which at times they would have abandoned. ct They 
did not wish to be surpassed in valor by a woman/' says an an- 
cient chronicler. 

The war went on with ever increasing vigor. It would be 
in vain to attempt an enumeration of the towns that fell one by 
one before the Christian arms. In all the principal battles 
Ferdinand took part, rushing into the midst of the combat, like 
the meanest of his vassals, and when remonstrated with, crying 
out : "That he could not stop to calculate chances, when his 
subjects were perilling their lives for his sake." One of the 
most soul-stirring episodes in the fight, was the siege of Mal- 
aga, so obstinate, so desperate, so almost hopeless. At last, 
when after the most recklessly daring ventures, all seemed lost. 
Ferdinand sent for Isabella. She came thither at once, with 
the Cardinal of Spain, and attended by a gorgeous retinue. At 
sight of her, the aspect of things changed. The Spanish cava- 
liers felt that in her presence they must win or die. Young as- 
pirants sought honors with two-fold eagerness, when that much 
loved Sovereign Lady was at hand to witness their triumph. 

The Queen, however, on this occasion, narrowly escaped a 
terrible danger. After one of the sorties made by the beseiged 
Moors upon their Christian foes, a Moor was made prisoner, 
and asked to see the King and Queen, as he had news to 
communicate to them. As it happened, Ferdinand was asleep, 
and the Queen bade the Moor remain without, in an adjoining 
tent. The Moor, not understanding what w r as said, and find- 
ing two richly dressed people in the tent into w r hich he was 
ushered, drew forth a dagger and inflicted severe wounds upon 
both, mistaking them for the King and Queen. 

On the 1 8th August, after a siege of three months, Ferdinand 



68 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



and Isabella made their solemn entrance into the city. Nothing 
was omitted that could lend grandeur and solemnity to the oc- 
casion, and the victorious sovereigns prostrated themselves with 
their army, before the altar of one of the Cathedrals, once a 
mosque, where Mass was said. Then pealed forth the Te Deum 
LaudamuSy which was the mediaeval psean of victory. A most 
touching incident was the release of the unhappy Christian cap- 
tives, who for years had groaned in the dungeons of Malaga. 
Some of them were wasted and worn beyond recognition. They 
threw themselves with tears at the feet of their sovereigns, who 
raised them and embraced them, loading them with gifts. 

The protracted operations before Baza, too, deserve to be 
chronicled as among the most important of the campaign. So 
expensive was this enterprise, that when every other resource 
failed, Isabella pledged her jewels, to procure the necessary 
means. But as discouragement had seized upon the soldiers 
and even the leaders, it was absolutely necessary that Isabella 
should appear as before at Malaga. It was, indeed, her noble 
and courageous letter, exhorting the warriors of the Cross not 
to lose their confidence in God, that had induced them to con- 
tinue their efforts as long as they had done in face of such 
deadly perils. On Isabella s arrival, it is said the beleaguered 
citizens of Baza assembled on the ramparts of their doomed 
city, to behold the royal cortege, winding through the sombre 
passes of the Sierras. Never to be forgotten sight. It acted as 
a charm on beseiged and besiegers alike. The latter took new 
heart from the presence of their beloved lady, while the former 
sent out a flag of truce, a few days after Isabella s arrival, and in 
a very short time Baza capitulated. Once more the Christian 
host entered the walls, with martial music, the singing of hymns 
and prayers of thanksgiving on their lips. This was a final 
blow to the Moslem power, and was soon to be followed by the 
surrender of Granada, which, in the words of the historian, u the 
baneful horoscope of Boabdil had forecast/' 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



69 



The details of the siege of Granada are marvellous, especially 
the building of that city, completed in four days, to shelter the 
troops. At Isabella's request it was called Santa Fe, as a tribute 
to the faith and confidence in God displayed by her army 
throughout the campaign. Isabella and her ladies, even before 
the building of this city, remained in camp all the time. And 
many a noble tournament, in which the bravest and proudest 
in Spain broke a lance, took place on that plain in view of the 
doomed city, that Moorish Eden, whence soon were to be 
driven the hapless sons of Islam. At last came the day of victory ; 
on the 25th November, 1491, the ancient city of Granada cap- 
itulated, on terms honorable to the besieged, and so brought to 
an end a war in which are witnessed more numerous and 
more striking instances of heroism, of magnanimity, of chivalry 
and of lofty faith and confidence in God, than in any other 
struggle on record. Both sides were conspicuous for noble ac- 
tions ; many a touching episode is told of Moslems as well as 
of Christians. We shall have a few words to say upon the 
general conduct of the war, but shall first briefly chronicle the 
glorious entrance of the sovereigns into Granada. 

The pageant was a rare one, indeed. The Cardinal of Spain 
in full robes riding forward with his guard of honor, the King 
at some distance back, and after a short interval the Queen, 
each surrounded by the flower of the Castilian Knighthood. 
The gorgeous costumes of the Queen and her ladies,the burnish- 
ed armor of the knights, the display of banners and pennons, escut- 
cheons and crests, all the picturesque details of a royal triumph, 
cannot be here described. At that solemn moment, sublime with 
the destinies of two nations, when the standard of Castile and 
St. Iago appeared upon the crimson towers of the alhambra, 
and the great silver Cross, the gift of Sixtus IV., to the sover- 
eigns, borne triumphantly through the wars, shone above the 
gates of the city, the proud and warlike host prostrated them- 
selves with one accord, with the King and Queen at their head. 



7° 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



Emotion kept all silent, till they broke forth again into that 
mighty hymn of thanksgiving, the Te Deum. The procession 
having entered Granada, the nobles of Spain knelt and kissed 
the hand of the Queen in token of allegiance to the 
sovereign of the new kingdom. We need not follow 
the hapless Boabdil, in his exit from the town, and his 
last mournful glance backwards from the summit of that 
hill, since called the tl Last sigh of the Moor." Fatal 
spot, whereon even his own mother taunted him with his 
defeat. He, like his uncle, the valorous El Zagal, who 
had surrendered at Baza, were treated with every courtesy 
by the Sovereigns of Castile, but no amount of * consider- 
ation could console those who were forced to depart from 
this fair, though usurped inheritance of Granada, to re-en- 
ter it no more. In reviewing the whole conduct of the cam- 
paign, we are struck with the wonder which fills every biog- 
rapher on finding that the army comported itself throughout 
with a sobriety, a decency, a moderation truly amazing. They 
acted like Christian soldiers in the truest sense of the term. 
Vice of every kind, which too often prevails in the camp, was 
completely banished hence, and for this we have the testimony 
of every chronicler who has written upon the subject. Thus 
Prescott, who follows in his recital several of the most noted 
ancient chroniclers : ''The Castilian army," he says, et swelled 
by these daily augmentations, varied in its amount, according 
to different estimates, from sixty to ninety thousand men. 
Throughout this immense host, perfect discipline was main- 
tained. Gaming was restrained by ordinances interdicting the 
use of dice and cards. Blasphemy was severely punished. So 
entire was the subordination, that not a knife was drawn, and 
scarcely a brawl occurred among the motley multitude. Be- 
sides the higher ecclesiastics who attended the court, the camp 
was well supplied with holy men, priests, friars, and the chap- 
lains of the great nobility who performed the exercises of re- 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



71 



ligion in their respective quarters with all the pomp and splen- 
dor of the Roman Catholic worship. " * 

" Who would have believed/' says Peter Martyr, an Italian 
contemporary writer, who was an eye witness of the siege, 
" who would have believed that the Galician, the fierce As- 
turian, and the rude inhabitants of the Pyrenees, men accus- 
tomed to deeds of atrocious violence, and to brawl and battle 
on the slightest pretence at home, should mingle amicably not 
only with one another, but with the Toledans, La Manchans, 
and the wily and jealous Andalusians, all living together in 
harmonious subordination to authority, like members of one 
family, speaking one tongue, and nurtured under a common 
discipline; so that the camp seemed like a community mod- 
elled on the principles of Plato's model Republic." 

Marvellous accounts are given of the splendid rivalry among 
the grandees during the campaign. Each one sought to out- 
vie the other, in bright, burnished armor, and complete equi- 
pages in plate, and in apparel. Their tents were fitted up with 
the utmost luxury, and without, each displayed armorial bear- 
ings and myriad colored pennons, which gave the scene the 
rich coloring of precious gems. At night, each cavalier was 
preceded by innumerable torches, and surrounded by pages 
and lacqueys in brilliant liveries. Though the King and Queen 
deplored such extravagance, yet it had no bad effect upon the 
courage of the warriors. Thus the most magnificent of all, 
the Duke del Infantado, of the house of Mendoza, cries 
out to his followers, at the siege of Illora, when, in the face 
of fearful odds they were about to turn back from the breach : 
"What, my men, do you fail me at this hour? Shall 
we be taunted with bearing more finery on our backs than 
courage in our heart. Let us not, in God's name, be 



* Prescott, Vol. I., p. 307. 



7* 



WOMEN OF CA THOU CITY. 



laughed at as holiday soldiers. " The assault was made and 
the place carried. 

That the war had a religious character, our narrative, brief as it 
is, has proved. Thanksgiving to God after victory, supplication 
beforehand, invocation of the Patron of Spain, St, James, the 
constant attendance and ministry of the clergy, are chronicled 
on every occasion. And the Court of Rome had part in all 
the joy, special tidings being sent thereto. The Pope, indeed, 
at the outset not only gave his blessing to all who engaged in 
these wars, but granted them special indulgences. After the 
fall of Granada, the Pope, Cardinals and other clergy marched 
in procession to St. Peter's in solemn thanksgiving. We will 
conclude our glance at this most glorious war by quoting once 
again from the eminent biographer of Isabella : 

"The history of this campaign is, indeed, most honorable to 
the courage, constancy, and thorough discipline of the Spanish 
soldier, and to the patriotism and general resources of the 
nation ; but most of all to Isabella. She it was who fortified 
the timid councils of the leaders after the disasters of the 
garden, and encouraged them to persevere in the siege. She 
procured all the supplies, constructed the roads, took charge 
of the sick, and furnished, at no little personal sacrifice, the 
immense sums demanded for carrying on the war ; and when 
at last the hearts of the soldiers were fainting under long-pro- 
tracted sufferings, she appeared among them, like some celestial 
visitant, to cheer their faltering spirits, and inspire them with her 
own energy. The attachment to Isabella seemed to be a 
pervading principle, which animated the whole nation by one 
common impulse, impressing a unity of design on all its move- 
ments. The sympathy and tender care with which she regarded 
her people naturally raised a reciprocal sentiment in their 
bosoms ; but when they beheld her directing their councils, 
sharing their fatigues and dangers, and displacing all the com- 
prehensive intellectual powers of the other sex, they look up to 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



73 



her as to some superior being, with feelings far more exalted 
than those of loyalty. The chivalrous heart of the Spaniard 
did homage to her as to his tutelar saint."* 

During the campaign, the sovereigns did not neglect those 
reforms which they had begun for the welfare of the kingdom, 
but pursued them vigorously. Moreover, foreign affairs more 
than once engaged their attention, the intrigues of Louis XI. 
of France and various negotiations with the Navarrese. Also, 
mediation in some Italian affairs, highly approved by the Pope. 
At all these things we cannot even glance, nor do they vitally 
concern our narrative. Ferdinand had ambassadors at all 
the European courts, and he is said to have been the first to 
send thither these resident representatives. In 1487, when the 
war was at its height, the Spanish Sovereigns, with their 
children, went into Arragon to secure the succession of their 
eldest son Prince John, then ten years of age. 

In April, 1490, took place the ceremony of the betrothal 
between the Infanta Isabella, their daughter, and Alfonso, the 
Portuguese heir-presumptive. Don Fernando de Silveira repre- 
sented Alfonso. The occasion was celebrated with all due 
solemnity, and great splendor of rejoicing. The ordinary 
course of festivities, tournaments and trials of knightly skill, 
in which even King Ferdinand took part, graced the betrothal. 
In the fall of the same year, the Infanta went into Portugal 
under the care of the Cardinal of Spain, attended by the Grand 
Master of the Order of St. James, and other distinguished 
nobles. Her dowry and her trousseau are the marvel of con- 
temporary writers. 

It is now our task to behold Isabella in a new character, 
and to consider her as the protector of a man universally 
misunderstood, who became in time the discoverer of a con- 
tinent. If Christopher Columbus were enabled, at last, after 



* Prescott, Ferdinand and Isabella, Vol I, p. 332-33. 



74 



JVOMEX OF CATHOLICITY. 



many weary straggles, after being again and again despised and 
rejected, to attain his result, it was due to Isabella. We cannot 
at present enter into the merits of the case nor follow Co- 
lumbus in all those disheartening failures, which would have 
shaken the constancy of a less indomitable spirit. His first 
friend, in Spain, was Fray Juan Perez de Marchena, Guardian 
of the Convent of ha Rabida in Andalusia. This monk, who 
was deeply interested in the projected discoveries of Columbus, 
gave him a letter to Ferdinand de Talavera, the Queen's confes- 
sor, who introduced him at court. However, Columbus was al- 
so befriended by Cardinal de Mendoza and the Dominican Friar 
Deza, who was afterwards Grand Inquisitor of Spain, in place of 
Torquemada. As the Moorish war was then in progress, Colum- 
bus was exposed to much delay ; finally, however, the monarchs 
received him, Ferdinand coldly. But Isabella, urged by the 
desire of saving those millions of souls, whom it was said exist- 
ed beyond the deep, cried out impulsively : 

" I will assume the undertaking for my own Crown of Castile, 
and am ready to pawn my jewels to defray the expenses of it if 
the funds in the treasury shall be found inadequate.''' Immor- 
tal words, destined to echo through the universe. 

" Isabella/'* says Irving, "was the soul of this grand enter- 
prise. She was prompted by lofty and generous enthusiasm. '"* 
" She was filled with a pious zeal at the idea of effecting such 
a great work of salvation. " 

" No sooner, ''' says Prescott, " were the arrangements com- 
pleted, than Isabella prepared with characteristic promptness 
to forward the expedition by the most efficient measures. 
Orders were sent to Seville and other ports of Andalusia to fur- 
nish stores and other articles requisite for the voyage, free of 
duty, and at as low rates as possible." 

On the morning of the 3d of August, 1492, the little fleet set 



* Irving. Life of Columbus, p. 81. 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



75 



sail, after all on board had received Holy Communion. On the 
15th of March, 1593.it returned — successful. Ail is said in 
this word. What the triumph of Columbus must have been is 
scarcely conceivable. He appeared before the Sovereigns at 
Barcelona bringing with him many curious things from those 
lands bevond the main, and a few of the aborigines. We can 
judge of the wonder and amaze of the Spaniards, as the dis- 
coverer passed from city to city, with his strange attendants. 

On coming into the presence of Ferdinand and Isabella, they 
arose and advanced to meet him . with unparalleled conde- 
scension, considering that he was but a poor mariner. A poor 
mariner heretofore,, but destined to rank in the eyes of posterity 
as the greatest man in Spain. In his account of the world 
which he had visited, and all its marvels, nothing interested 
Isabella so much as the description of those innumerable souls, 
waiting only for the pure light of the gospel to come to them. 
When Columbus had ended that unique narrative of his, the 
assembly by one accord fell upon their knees in thanksgiving 
and soon the Te Deum arose, anthem of jubilation, announcing 
that " Peace hath her victories no less than war." 

Columbus remained for some time at Barcelona, asthe honor- 
ed guest of the King and Queen, while arrangements were be- 
ing made for his return to the new continent, and for the es- 
tablishment of intercourse therewith. Missionaries were also 
chosen, twelve in number, with Las Casas at their head, to go 
out with the good tidings to the infidel. The Indians who 
had come to Spain with Columbus were baptized, the King and 
Prince John being sponsors for two of them. Some of these 
converted heathens were now sent to receive a special course 
of instruction in the faith, that they might go back as mission- 
aries to their countrymen. Strict injunctions were given to 
Columbus to deal as gently as possible in all respects with 
the natives, and to permit no tampering with their rights, nor 
injury to be done them in any way. Isabella's warm heart already 



76 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



felt for them a portion of that deep affection which she extend- 
ed to all of her own subjects. 

The Pope, Alexander VI., now granted to the Spanish 
sovereigns, at their request, a bull confirming them in their 
possessions in the new World. From time immemorial the 
Popes regulated thus all matters of/oreign policy for the va- 
rious European States. On the 25th September, 1493, Colum- 
bus again set forth, this time with a fleet of seventeen vessels, 
all fully equipped. 

A very few words will suffice here, of that event, which like 
the Inquisition, has called down a storm of condemnation on 
the heads of Ferdinand and Isabella, we mean the expulsion of 
the Jews. The number of these hapless people driven out of 
Spain is variously estimated, but it ranges from one hundred 
and sixty thousand souls to eight hundred. The harshness of 
the measure can scarcely be justified now, but it was undoubt- 
edly extenuated by the political circumstances of Spain, follow- 
ing upon the Moorish Wars. 

In the capital of the province of Catalonia on the 7th Decem- 
ber, 1492, the career of Ferdinand was near being brought to 
an untimely close. It was on the eve of the Immaculate 
Conception, and the King, who had just presided at a court of 
justice, was descending a narrow staircase in the palace, when 
he was attacked by a hidden assassin. The wretch aimed a 
blow with a short sword or knife at the King's neck, but the 
blow was in a measure turned aside by a gold chain or collar. 
Ferdinand cried out: "St. Mary help us! Treason! Trea- 
son !" The retinue returned, and would have despatched the 
murderer, but the King, with his wonted coolness, bade them 
seize the wretch, instead, so that they might find out the au- 
thors of the conspiracy. The King, faint from loss of blood, was 
conveyed to his apartment, to which, indeed, he was confined for 
some time, the wound proving rather dangerous. The outcry 
amongst the populace was tremendous, for the feeling of 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



77 



loyalty prevailed throughout the kingdom. The assassin was 
found to be insane, and Ferdinand had him discharged, but the 
people of the province, indignant at the outrage, put him to 
death themselves, Meanwhile the Queen never left her hus- 
band, praying, and having prayers offered for him till he recov- 
ered. 

The state of literature during Isabella's reign was most 
flourishing. Isabella, herself, was possessed of all the elegant 
accomplishments, which, indeed, in our own so-called enlight- 
ened days, are not very common amongst women. "She 
was, "says her biographer, " acquainted with several modern 
languages, and both wrote and discoursed in her own with 
great precision and elegance." But, as she was unacquainted 
with Latin, then much in vogue, she devoted herself to its ac- 
quirement, and soon became quite a proficient therein. Fol- 
lowing her example, the Castilian ladies became each in turn 
votaries of science and of literature. In point of fact, they 
studied branches of knowledge the most recondite, and ladies, 
such as Dona Lucia de Medrano and others of her rank pub- 
licly lectured on the classics. "Female education at that 
day," says the historian, "embraced a wider compass of erudi- 
tion, in reference to the ancient languages, than is common at 
present." * Curious commentary on the modern contempt 
for the darkness of the Middle Ages, and the superstition and 
ignorance which are ascribed to this period in Spain. In real- 
ity letters flourished everywhere, and in no country was a 
greater impulse given to learning, and greater inducements 
held out to scholars. In fact, it was one of the darling pro- 
jects of Isabella, to create a taste among the younger nobility 
for the pursuit of learning. In this she was eminently success- 
ful. "No Spaniard, " cries a writer of the day, f "was ac- 
counted noble who held science in indifference." The emi- 



* Prescott, p. 405. t Givoo, Eulogy on Lebrija. 



78 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



nent scholars who had been invited into Spain by Isabella to 
earn- her scheme into execution, were fairly amazed at the 
rage for learning which prevailed. Peter Martyr describes the 
crowds who besieged his lecture room. The university of 
Salamanca attained its highest reputation, while academies 
were founded in all the principal cities. The glory of Spanish 
learning was, however, crowned by the foundation of the Uni- 
versity of Alcala by the magnificent Ximenes. one of the 
noblest and most enlightened patrons that letters ever found 
in any country. History, medicine, chemistry, were cultivat- 
ed with the greatest success. The ci-devant Inquisitor Tal- 
avera had turned his house into an academy, and his "prince- 
ly revenues."' were spent for the advancement of learning. 
Cardinal Mendoza was only surpassed by his successor, the 
before mentioned Ximenes. The higher clergy, in fact, entered 
into this noble emulation with ardor. The progress made by 
science was unparalleled anywhere. "'Theological studies." 
says Prescott, " were pursued with ardor, the Scriptures copi- 
ously illustrated, and sacred eloquence cultivated with suc- 
cess." 

Yet from mouth to mouth, among the vulgar and the let- 
tered alike, is circulated the fable that the world needed a 
Luther to open the treasures of the Gospel to the people, 
when in Spain, Ximenes alone had compiled his immortal 
Polyglot Bible, which was sufficient glory for one reign. 

Yet Spain, in this 15th century, is cried down as the abode of 
priestcraft and ignorance, as groaning under monkish rule; 
vet Isabella is represented as too much swayed by " ghostly in- 
fluence." Never since the beginning of the world was there a 
reign when the spread of letters was more universal, and be- 
came even the prevailing fever of a gorgeous and aristocratic 
court. A handful of priests, under the regime of the Most 
Catholic Sovereigns, did more to favor learning than all the 
reformers who ever lived. Isabella herself, of all sovereigns 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



~9 



was the most enlightened, the most liberal, the most generous 
patron of letters, and the most devoted to reforming ever} 7 de- 
partment of her kingdom. In the very face of their own asser- 
tions as to superstition and ignorance, as to narrow and big- 
oted priests, historians, writing upon that time, pay a glorious 
tribute to the golden era of literature and science, that was 
then inaugurated in Spain, and fostered, most of all, by the 
clergy. If our space but permitted us to dwell upon this sub- 
ject, we might produce proof after proof of what we say. 
Books were brought into the kingdom free of duty, and a cer- 
tain German, Theodoric, was exempt from taxation, as being 
" one of the principal persons in the discovery and practise 
of the art of printing books, which he had brought with him 
into Spain at great risk and expense, with the design of en- 
nobling the libraries of the kingdom." 

The sole fault which modern cavillers have to find with 
all these regulations, is one which, in a Christian point of 
view, should redound to the glory of those who made them. 
This was a certain censorship appointed over volumes coming 
into the kingdom, or being there produced. Every book had 
to have a special license from the king, or other authorized 
person. It was a safeguard for the people, which it would be 
well if all Christian legislators provided. There would be 
fewer revolutions, less discontent in suffering humanity, and 
more harmony between the classes. The spread of dangerous 
doctrines among the masses can have none but evil results. 
If the Inquisitors, therefore, inquired into the reading of the 
populace, whose spiritual interests were in their keeping, and if 
Isabella desired above all to preserve her people from the scourge 
of bad reading, so devastating in its moral influence, they did 
wisely and well, and accomplished a reform more valuable 
than any other of their improvements in the condition of the 
kingdom. 

* Life of Ferdinand and Isabella, Vol. I , p- 405. 



8o 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



With the wars in Italy and the other foreign relations of the 
kingdom, our narrative has little to do, the more especially 
that these things belonged rather to Ferdinand's department, 
while Isabella occupied herself, as we have seen, and con- 
tinued to occupy herself with the internal affairs of the kingdom. 
However, Spain, at this critical juncture, owed to the Queen's 
penetration, one of her greatest captains, Gonsalvo de Cordova. 
Isabella selected him, in preference to many veteran officers, 
for the chief command of the Spanish forces. Another great 
man, who rose upon the splendid zenith of Isabella's reign, 
was one we have already mentioned, Cardinal Mendoza's 
successor, the renowned and saintly Franciscan, Ximenes. 
Of this great prelate, whom Prescott calls, "the most 
remarkable man of his time," we need only say here, that 
he acted in perfect accordance with the views of Isabel- 
la. Their lofty souls arose above the pettiness of world- 
ly things and together they arranged their magnificent schemes 
for religion and for humanity. The reign of these most Catho- 
lic Sovereigns was a splendid arena, upon which men of varied 
attainments displayed each the full splendor of his genius. 
Ximenes, Cordova and Columbus are names written in gold 
upon the annals of the world. 

It is time for us now to glance hastily at those domestic mis- 
fortunes which so saddened the gentle Queen. Her fortitude 
in supporting these afflictions shows as much moral grandeur as 
her heroism in the moment of battle. Her son, Prince John, 
who had made so auspicious a marriage with the Princess Mar- 
garet of Austria, was stricken down, in the midst of the public 
rejoicings incidental upon his marriage. The King, who was 
with him, was afraid to tell Isabella of her son's approaching 
death. But at last when the fatal news was broken to her, the 
Queen said calmly : " The Lord hath given and the Lord hath 
taken away. Blessed be His name. " 

But a second, and perhaps more cruel blow, was in the death 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



81 



of the Sovereigns' eldest daughter, Isabella, Queen of Portugal, 
which took place less than a year after the death of John . It is 
said that, with all her resignation to the Divine Will, and the 
outward composure with which she bore this new and grievous 
affliction, Isabella never completely rallied from the load of 
grief which seemed to weigh her down. It brought on a 
severe illness, in which her life was threatened. Another of her 
children, Joanna, was, as is recorded, of feeble mind. So that, 
in truth, this most illustrious Sovereign was in her private life 
compelled to tread by that "royal road of the Cross," which 
alone can lead to the mountain of salvation. To her woman- 
liness and gentleness of character in her domestic relations, all 
her biographers bear testimony. And they speak unanimously 
of her dignity and her modesty, her pure and spotless life, 
upon which not a shadow is cast. The love she bore her hus- 
band and children, and her devotion to them, blended in ex- 
quisite harmony with the duties of her public life. She was as 
exemplary a wife and mother as she was a sovereign. Her 
character is of perfect symmetry. All its proportions agree. Her 
intellectual gifts, lofty as they are, are balanced by her moral 
qualities, which are no less grand and striking. The tenderest 
emotions of a truly womanly heart, fit in among the grandest 
schemes of reform, for the advancement of science, and for the 
common good of humanity. Her beauty of person was 
the reflex of her soul ; her generosity and magnanimity of heart 
were adjusted by firmness and sound judgment. It is little 
wonder that considering her in all relations of life, the Spaniards 
should revere her almost as a saint, and justly esteem her as 
the greatest in the long line of Castilian Sovereigns. Her hero- 
ism and daring on the battle-field were, indeed, masculine, but 
her gentle caring for the wounded and the dying was tender 
and merciful as that of a Sister of Charity. Her judgment was 
calm and penetrating, combining the perception of a delicately 
organized woman with the solidityand consistency of a man's 



82 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



understanding. Her humility, her childlike confidence in God, 
and obedience to the advice of her spiritual guides, have been 
counted, indeed, against her ; but the Catholic reader must rec- 
ognize in them rare beauties, which are the brightest adornments 
of a Christian soul. Isabella s integrity of motive has never been 
disputed. Such fault as posterity has to find with her adminis- 
tration belongs to her age. In fact, we recognize in Isabella 
a degree of virtue which is rare outside the cloister. She was 
one of those typical women, who prove that sanctity is possible 
under any circumstances, in the court as in the convent. Her 
faith was the loadstar of her life, strong, lively, ardent. Her 
charity animated her to desire the good of all, and to mourn 
over those who for offences against Church and state, were sub- 
jected to the sad penalties imposed by the times. She erected 
schools and hospitals, and spent a large portion of her revenue 
in the endowment of charitable institutions and of monasteries. 
There w r as no scheme for the good of her people, or for their 
education and improvement, in w r hich Isabella did not have a 
share. Her plans for the wellfare of the American aborigines, 
and her steadfast opposition to the introduction of slavery among 
them, would in themselves deserve a chapter, did space permit. 
The Queen declared that the Indians were " as free as her own 
subjects." It w r as the darling wish of her heart to propagate the 
Gospel among them, and send the u good tidings " into the 
very heart of their wild and trackless dominions. 

It is beautifully recorded, that in those troubles with France, 
which led to a French invasion of Spanish territory, and mark- 
ed that period, swiftly approaching now, when Isabella is to 
disappear from the history of Spain, that the Queen remaining 
at Segovia, was informed of all the operations of the army. When 
she heard that Ferdinand had set out from Girona with a large 
force to fall upon the French, she was much distressed at the 
probable shedding of Christian blood. She wrote to her husband 
begging of him not to close the retreat of the French, but to let 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



83 



them go in peace, and leave vengeance to the Most High. She 
followed up her petition by prayer and fasting, in which her 
whole household joined. Her prayers were heard. The French 
retreated in good order, pursued by their foe. In many places 
on the frontier, w r hich was abandoned to the Spaniards, Ferdin- 
and, it is said, refused even to make prisoners, because the 
inhabitants were Christians. 

We must unhappily take our leave now of a sovereign whose 
career we follow, and find it stainless, whose character we study 
in its intricacies, and find it, humanly speaking, without flaw, 
whose exquisite purity of life has made her an example to all 
succeeding sovereigns. ' ' She was/' says Prescott, ' k surrounded 
by a moral atmosphere of purity, 

* Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt.' 

He dwells particularly upon her piety and faithfulness to her 
private devotions. k ' Her actions, " he says, ' 1 were habitually 
based on principle. Her measures were characterized by prac- 
tical good sense." 

" She was careful, " he adds, "to instruct her daughters in 
the more humble departments of domestic duty ; for she 
thought nothing too humble to learn which was useful." 

Her own leisure moments — few, indeed, they must have 
been — were divided between study and the embroidering of rich 
vestments and ornaments for churches. 

Her fortitude, which enabled her to bear the greatest pain 
without a groan, to withstand the hardships and to encounter 
the risks of battle likewise, as her historian tells us, supported 
her in the darkest hour of adversity. 

" Queen Isabella," says a chronicler,* "by a singular gen- 
ius, masculine strength of mind, and other virtues most unusual 
in our own sex as well as in hers, was not merely of great assist- 
ance in, but the chief cause of, the conquest of Granada. She 



*Navagiero, the Venetian minister. 



84 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



was, indeed, a rare and most virtuous lady ; one of whom the 
Spaniards talk far more than of the King, sagacious as he was, 
and uncommon for his time/' 

As regarded the internal administration of the government 
we have spoken much already. ' c Such was the justice dispensed 
to every one, under this auspicious reign/' says a Spanish writer,* 
"that nobles and cavaliers, citizens and laborers, rich and poor, 
masters and servants all equally partook of it. " In fact, the 
sovereigns, and more especially the Queen, sought merit, 
wherever it was to be found, and often raised the lowly into 
positions of high trust. Moreover, Isabella steadily resisted 
any encroachments upon her people, and prevented all undue 
or illegal taxation, while various laws were made for the pro- 
tection and encouragement of trade. 

It would be far too long to attempt the most cursory review 
of the benefits heaped upon the country by Isabella. Nor can 
we pause longer to contemplate her in self-devoted and ten- 
der care of her aged, infirm mother, in watching beside her 
husband's sick bed, in forgetting her rank in the sympathies of 
friendship, ever true, generous, and self-sacrificing towards 
those whom she honored with her affection. She was to be 
seen watching beside her sick friend, consoling this one in sor- 
row, or sharing in that one's joy. 

We have approached the time when Spain was to lose this 
incomparable sovereign. Columbus on his return from his 
last voyage, in 1504, was met with the melancholy tidings of 
her decease. In his affliction he wrote to his son : " It is our 
chief duty to commend to God most affectionately and devoutly 
the soul of our deceased lady the Queen, Her life was always 
Catholic and virtuous, and prompt to whatever could redound 
to His holy service ; wherefore we may trust she now rests in 
glory, far from all concern for this rough and weary world." 



*Marineo. 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



85 



The circumstances of Isabella's death are fully in keeping 
with her life. She had been failing ever since those accumu- 
lated domestic afflictions which we have already chronicled. 
But her mental vigor, or her interest in the welfare of her king- 
dom had never diminished. It is believed that her exertions, 
coupled with the sorrow which was preying upon her heart, 
hastened her end. She was taken with a fever, somewhere in 
the spring of 1504, from which she never entirely recovered. 
It was at this time that the Italian nobleman made his cele- 
brated remark to Ferdinand, that, " he had come to Castile to 
behold the woman w r ho, from her sick bed, ruled the world." * 
It was a sick bed from which she never rose. 
" We sit sorrowful in the palace all day long," writes Peter 
Martyr, " tremblingly awaiting the hour when religion and vir- 
tue shall quit the earth with her. Let us pray that we may be 
permitted to follow hereafter where she is soon to go. She so 
far transcends all human excellence, that there is scarcely any- 

thing'of mortality about her I write this, between hope and 

fear, while the breath is still fluttering within her." 

In vain did the nation besiege Heaven with prayers and tears. 
Public processions were held, to avert what was deemed a na- 
tional calamity. Isabella knew from the first that her end was 
near, and prepared for it with the grand simplicity which had 
been so conspicuous in all important actions. Her will was 
worthy of her. She commanded that her obsequies should be 
conducted in the simplest and plainest manner possible, and 
that the money thence saved be given to the poor. That her 
body should be laid in an humble tomb, with merely an in- 
scription thereupon. But her expressed wish was that she be 
laid in the Franciscan monastery of Santa Isabella, in the Al- 
hambra. Even in this she shows, however, her characteristic 



* Prospero Colonna, an Italian officer of high rank. This remark of 
his is recorded by various Spanish chroniclers. 



86 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



humility. " Should the King, my lord/' she adds, " prefer sep- 
ulchre in some other place, then my will is, that my body 
be there transported, and laid by his side, that the union we 
have enjoyed in this world, and, through the mercy of God, 
may hope again for our souls in heaven, may be represented 
by our bodies in the earth/' 

She regulated all her affairs, revoked such grants as she be- 
lieved might have been made without sufficient warrant, and 
commanded that all her personal debts be paid within the year. 
She charged her successors to preserve " the integrity of the roy- 
al domains," and "to retain possession, at all hazards, of the for- 
tress of Gibraltar, " She settled the succession upon her daugh- 
ter Joanna, and the arch-duke Philip, husband of the latter, as 
Prince Consort, and gave them much advice as to the govern- 
ment of the country, and their relations with each other. She 
appointed Ferdinand as Regent. Having settled many other 
public matters, she provided for various charities, such as dow- 
ries for poor girls, and large sums for the redemption of the 
Barbary captives. 

She concludes in these exquisitely tender and touching words : 
" I beseech the King, my lord, that he will accept all my jew- 
els, or such as he shall select, so that, seeing them, he may be 
reminded of the singular love I always bore him while living, 
and that I am now waiting for him in a better world ; by which 
remembrance he may be encouraged to live the more justly 
and holily in this. " The King and Cardinal Ximenes were 
the chief executors, in conjunction with four others. She made 
a codicil to this will, however, three days before her death, in 
which she firstly directs that a new codification of the laws 
should be made ; secondly, makes an earnest entreaty to her 
successors to carry on the work of conversion among the Indians, 
to redress any wrongs these poor people may have suffered in 
person or property, and to treat them gently ; thirdly, she begs 
that inquiry be made into a certain tax from which the princi- 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE, 



87 



pal revenue of the crown was derived, to discover if it were 
originally designed to be perpetual and if so, was it with the 
free consent of her people. That if this were the case, it should 
be so collected as least to oppress her subjects. In case of its 
invalidity, she enjoined the Cortes to take measures to supply 
the crown in some other manner — u Measures,'' to use her own 
words, " dependent for their validity on the good pleasure of 
the subjects of the realm.''' 

So that, even in death, this magnanimous sovereign was 
mindful of the liberties and of the interests of her people. 
Having done all she could for them, and endeavored by her 
will to secure a continuance of those benefits which she had 
in her lifetime heaped upon them, Isabella turned her 
thoughts entirely towards that other Kingdom, which she had 
earned by her faithful administration of an earthly one. To 
her friends, who stood weeping about her, she said : 

" Do not weep for me, nor waste your time in fruitless 
prayers for my recovery,, but pray rather for the salvation of 
my soul/'* 

On Wednesday, November 26th, 1504, Isabella died. She 
had received the Sacraments with the liveliest faith and most 
ardent charity. She passed away very quietly with no struggle, 
and but little evidence of suffering. It was about noon of the 
day, a sad noontide, indeed, for Spain. The whole nation were 
her mourners, not outwardly alone, but in spirit and truth. For 
the people loved her, and were absolutely inconsolable for her 
death. She was then fifty- four years of age, and had reigned for 
thirty years. 

The day after Isabella's death, a numerous train of nobles 
and priests set out to convey her body to its allotted resting 
place. The journey was beset with every obstacle, for a storm 
had set in which laid waste the country in all directions. 



* Marineo, Cosas Memorables, and other Spanish writers of note. 



ss 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



Bridges were swept away, streams swollen, reads rendered all 
but impassable. Horses and mules were carried away by tor- 
rents, sometimes taking their riders with them. Martyr says it 
was the most hazardous journey he ever took. Neither the sun 
nor the stars were seen during the whole of the melancholy 
voyage. It would seem as if Nature mourned, too, for the 
death, which had laid Spain waste in a moral sense. On the 
1 8th of December, while the storm was still raging, Isabella was 
buried in that little Franciscan Church, which had grown up in 
what was once the heart of Moorish power. That city, w T hich 
she had won back from the infidel, was her mausoleum. Its 
restored Christian character was her panegyric. But there is 
a poetical beauty in her chosen burial place. There, 
where the rage of Moslem fanaticism, mingled at times with the 
softer elements of a chivalry and courtesy, that would have 
done credit to any nation, was expended in vain, to save the last 
stronghold of Saracenic dominion in Spain: there under the shad- 
ow of whose towers the Knighthood of Castile had done such 
deeds of almost fabulous valor, there whither Isabella had 
come like a good genius, inspiring the army, raising enthus- 
iasm to £he loftiest pitch, and giving herself the example of 
Christian heroism. She came silently enough now and was 
laid in the spot that had been dearest to her heart in life. The 
mournful walls of Granada, its olive groves and its orange 
bowers, its gemlike streets and lofty towers became, as it were, 
embellished, idealized by the presence of that generous heart, 
once the foe of Granada, now stilled to all passions of earth. 
The remains were afterwards removed to a splendid tomb in the 
Cathedral Church of Granada, beside Ferdinand, who sunived 
his consort several years. 

In the words of Peter Martyr, we will take leave of Isabella : 
"My hand," says his letter to the Archbishop of Granada, 
" falls powerless by my side for very sorrow. The world has 
lost its noblest ornament ; a loss to be deplored not only by 



ISABELLA OF CASTILE. 



89 



Spain, which she has so long carried forward in the career of 
glory, but by every nation in Christendom. For she was the 
mirror of every virtue, the shield of the innocent, and an aveng- 
ing sword to the wicked. I know none of her sex, in ancient 
or modern times, who in my judgment is at all worthy to 
be named with this incomparable woman/' 



Morn broadened on the borders of the dark, 
Ere I saw her who clasped in her last trance 
Her murdered father s head. 

Tennyson. 

" With many a tear she pondered oer 
The story of Sir Thomas More, 
And frequent flashed her eye of jet 
At thought of his true Margaret!' 

McGee. 



Daughter of Sir Thomas More, Chancellor of England. 




N the hour of her glory and for centuries after, England 
was called the Island of the Saints. From one extremity 
to the other, she was endowed with churches, abbeys, 
and innumerable institutions of learning, each dignified by the 
title of one of those blessed citizens of heaven, who had won 
his beatitude by toiling there on English soil. To behold Eng- 
land then, was to behold her in her grandeur, before a single 
seed of decay had been planted within her breast. She was 
mighty, she was Catholic, she was princely in her benefits to reli- 
gion and to the human race. But we are about to contemplate 
her at a much more melancholy period, when thecanker had be- 
gun to gnaw at her vitals. The reign of Henry VII I. opened with 
the fairest promise. Young, ardent, full of faith, Henry soon 
won for -himself the title of Defender of the Faith, which is 
still, with a vain clinging to shadows, whence the substance 
has departed, the appanage of the English Sovereign. 

There was the court of that day, with its splendor of pageants, 
from the royal entry of Queen Katherine, to the Field of the 
Cloth of Gold, presenting in all respects a brilliant arena. An 
arena upon which a host of great or notorious men and women 
played parts, which had an important share in the subsequent 
history of the universe. From the multitude of these dramatis 
personae, we select one, who was, perhaps, the most unobtru- 
sive, the most modest, and least regarded amongst them. The 
life and character of Margaret Roper were individualized by her 



94 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



crowning trait of filial devotion to an illustrious father. In 
following the career of Sir Thomas More, making its sublime 
trial, soaring to its lofty flights, attending it to the martyr's death 
upon the scaffold, the figure of Magaret Roper is conspicuous 
everywhere. 

In or about 1 507, Thomas More was married to Jane Colte, 
a woman of estimable character, and with whom he had every 
prospect of happiness. But she died six years after her marriage 
leaving a son and three daughters. Of the children of this union, 
our narrative is concerned with one only, Margaret, afterwards, 
the wife of William Roper. She was his eldest child, being 
born in 1508, and incomparably the best beloved. Such 
gleanings of her history as we find recorded will form a simple, 
yet striking sketch of a true Christian heroine. In 1 5 1 2, her father 
married again, this time a widow*, Dame Alice Middeton, who had 
one daughter, afterwards married to a Mr. Allington. The pic- 
ture of the home in which Margaret Roper's early years were 
passed is a beautiful one. More, himself, an accomplished 
scholar, superintended the education of his children, and en- 
deavored to inspire them all with a love of learning, and to sur- 
round them with those elegant amusements, which should 
withdraw their minds from the current frivolity of the age. It is 
recorded that if" even a servant discovered an ear for music, or a 
talent for any particular art or accomplishment, it was sure to be 
encouraged/' During meals, More had some useful book read 
aloud, and would then question his children upon such and 
such a passage, and engage them in witty and pleasant conver- 
sation. He suffered no slander, no detraction, nor objection- 
able discourse of any kind at his table. More was himself an 
early riser, and accustomed all his family to rise early too. 
Prayers were then said bv the head of the house, and he also 
recited certain Psalms, " which he had selected and caused to 
be transcribed neatly in a volume." In Holy Week, he had 
the Passion of one of the Evangelists read every day, and he 



MARGARET ROPER. 



95 



himself commented on the text to his household. At evening, 
the family again assembled and prayers were said in common.* 

When upon that home the shade of dire affliction had fal- 
len, and Sir Thomas More himself was in the Tower, a Confes- 
sor of the Faith, Margaret wrote to him : 

u What do you think, my most dear father, doth comfort us, 
at Chelsea, in your absence ? surely the remembrance of your 
manner of life passed here amongst us, your holy conversation, 
your wholesome counsels, your examples of virtue." 

More was wont to come into the school-room where his 
children were at study, saying: u My children, remember that 
virtue and learning are the meat, and play but the sauce." 

More, it is said, was one of the first to make a stand for the 
higher education of women, not such as would disqualify them 
for their duties as housewives, but such as would make their 
whole manner of life more elevated, more enlightened, more 
intellectual. His daughters, therefore, and especially the ac- 
complished Margaret, became the first fruits of his views upon 
this subject. As a specimen of the kind and tender interest 
which the great statesman betrayed in his children's studies, even 
amid the turmoil and bustle of his very busy life, we will quote 
here and there from letters of his, the first addressed to his whole 
school, as he playfully called them. Besides his daughters, 
were his stepdaughter who became Mrs. Allington, and 
an orphan girl, Margaret Giggs, whom he had educated with his 
own family. 

" You are all so dear to me," he says, ' ■ that I can leave none 
among you unsaluted. Yet there is no better motive why I 
should love you than because you are scholars : learning seem- 
ing to bind me more strictly to you than the nearness of blood. 
Did I not love you exceedingly, I should envy you the rare 
happiness of having so many great scholars for your masters." 



* Sir Thomas More, His Life and Times, by W. Jos. Walter. 



9 6 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



Speaking to them of the new science of astronomy upon 
which they were then engaged, he continues : 

" Go forward, then, with this your new and admirable skill, 
by which you thus climb up to the stars and while you daily- 
consider them with your eyes, let your minds also be in heaven, 
and more especially during this holy season of Lent. " 

Again, written from the court, September 3d, 1 5 1 6 : "Thomas 
More to his dearest daughters. Margaret, Elizabeth, Cecily, 
and to Margaret Giggs, as dear to him as if she were his own, 
sendeth greeting. 

" I cannot sufficiently express, my best-beloved wenches, " he 
says, " how exceedingly your elegant letters have pleased me. 
Nor am I the less delighted to hear, that in all your journey- 
ings, though you change places often, you omit none of your 
accustomed exercises, either in making declamations, compos- 
ing of verses, or in your logical exercises. * * * Per- 
suade yourselves that there is nothing in the midst of these my 
troublesome cares and fatigues of business, that recreateth me so 
much as when I read some of your labors, by which I find those 
things to be true which your loving master writes so affection- 
ately of you. " 

We quote from these to show the affectionate under- 
standing which subsisted between an illustrious father and 
his children. Moreover, it gives us an insight into the atmos- 
phere in which our heroine grew from womanhood. There can 
be no more delightful subject of contemplation than that 
home at Chelsea, wherein, while surrounded with every facility 
for the acquirement of mental accomplishments, the moral na- 
ture had a sphere as wide. Piety was side by side with culture, 
the affections of the heart were combined with the qualities of 
the head. The home was essentially a happy one, in the best 
sense of the word, too, where every talent, every noble trait of 
character were brought out to the fullest. Grace of manner, an 
intimate acquaintance with the various branches of polite learn- 



MARGARET ROPER. 



97 



ins: were never suffered to interfere in the education of Mama- 

o o 

ret and her sisters, with the acquirement of all practical womanly 
knowledge. Thus the daughters of More, and in particular the 
gifted Margaret, were renowned as housewives, and as skillful in 
the humblest details of domestic economy, as in construing a 
Greek verb, or writing Latin verse. It would have been nearly 
impossible for Margaret, the favorite daughter of such a man as 
the Chancellor, growing up, as she did, amid virtue, learning, 
the delights of a home, to have been anything else than what she 
was, an exemplary wife, and a daughter, who has become a typ- 
ical one, a very model of filial devotion. It is pleasant to read at 
random portions of More s correspondence with this beloved 
Margaret. On one occasion he writes as follows : 

" My dearest Margaret : you ask for money of your father with- 
out the slightest fear or shame, and what is worse, the letter in 
which you ask it is of such a kind, that I cannot refuse your re- 
quest, do what I will. Indeed, I could find it in my heart to 
recompense your letter, not as Alexander did by Choritus, giv- 
ing him for every line a Phillipine of gold ; but, if my pocket 
were as large as my will, I would bestow two crowns of the pur- 
est gold for every syllable of the same. Herein, I send you as 
much as you requested ; I should have been willing to send 
you more, but I like to have my pennyworth for my penny. 
As I bestow with pleasure, so am I desirous to be asked, and to 
be fawned on by my daughters ; and more especially by you, 
Meg, whom virtue and learning have made so dear to me. 
Therefore, the sooner you have spent this money well, as you 
are ever wont to do, and the sooner you ask for more in as 
handsome a way as you did for the last, know, that the soon- 
er you will do your father a singular pleasure. My beloved 
daughter, farewell.''" Mores biographer speaks of the Ct blame- 
less and even lofty character of their (More and his children's) 
domestic life, the school, the playful and unreserved intercourse 
of the father and his children, their severe studies, their relig- 



9 8 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



ious exercises, the truly moral feeling which regulated every 
hour, the charity to others, and the perfect union among them- 
selves." 

It is sad to contemplate all this with a view to those tragic 
events which were to come, ending with that last " interview 
between More and his daughter, than which history has record- 
ed few things so affecting.''' It would, indeed, be our delight 
to linger over those happy days at Chelsea, when More's house 
was the resort of all the most accomplished men of the time, 
when Erasmus, the subtle scholar, complimented his beloved 
More on the proficiency of his daughters, and especially Margaret, 
in learning ; when to Margaret was given the sole care of that ref- 
uge for the aged poor, which More had established hard by his 
home, that home of which Erasmus speaks as" destined to en- 
joy peculiar felicity/' which he compares to the " Academy of 
Plato," and describes "as a palestra for the exercise of Christian 
virtues. " 

" Wherein," he writes, ''all its inmates, male or female, apply 
their leisure to liberal studies and profitable reading, though 
piety is their first care. Where no wrangling, no angry word 
is heard within its walls. Where no one is idle ; every one 
does his duty with alacrity, and regularity and good order are 
prescribed by the mere force of kindness and courtesy. Where 
every one performs his allotted task, and yet all are as cheerful 
as if mirth were their only employment." 

Nor did this model home become less peaceful, when in 
course of time More's son came to reside there with his wife, 
and each of his three daughters with their husband. Not to 
speak of the eleven grandchildren. However, it is at a subse- 
quent period that the celebrated picture of the More family by 
Holbein was taken. A copy of this having been sent to Eras- 
mus, he wrote as follows to Margaret : 

" I want words to express to you my delight on contemplating 
the picture of your family, which Holbein has so happily executed. 



MARGARET ROPER. 



99 



If I were present with the originals, I could not have a more 
accurate idea of them. I see you all before me, but no one 
more strikingly than yourself, in whose features shine those men- 
tal accomplishments, those domestic virtues, which have ren- 
dered you the ornament of your country and of your age ! 99 

These are the words of an eminent scholar, who, whatever his 
peculiarity of opinions, was undoubtedly no mean judge of peo- 
ple and of manners. And it was previous to Margaret's mar- 
riage, and while she was still quite young. High testimony, in- 
deed, to her worth and to her acquirements, upon which her 
father, too, often dwells with delight. " In perusing More s let- 
ters to his daughter, " says a chronicler, "the reader will be 
struck by the importance attached by More to Margarets learn- 
ing. The encomiums bestowed on her progress are such as no 
common acquirements could deserve." 

This famous picture of Holbein " is divided into two groups. 
In the foreground of the first are Mores two daughters, Mar- 
garet and Cecily, kneeling with their mother-in-law, Alice, in 
the same position. In the centre of the second group stand 
More and his father. John More, the son, and Harris, his fav- 
orite servant, are standing the last in the group. Behind More 
and his father stands Ann Cresacre in her 15th year, to whom 
young More is supposed to be newly espoused. Elizabeth, 
More's second daughter, and Margaret Giggs stand foremost in 
the second group." 

Before proceeding to the really celebrated period of Margarets 
life, which unhappily is of so tragic a character, we will proceed 
to take a glance at those literary acquirements of hers, which 
gained for her a name at the time in which she lived. It is 
said, on the authority of the best biographers, that Margaret was 
thoroughly acquainted with Greek and Latin, that both one and 
the other were no superficial accomplishment with her, but 
something in which she was thoroughly versed. Moreover, she 
had a practical and extended knowledge of the various sciences, 



IOO 



WOMEX OF CATHOLICITY, 



was proficient in polite literature, and in the learning of the past 
and of her own time. In the most enlightened age, her edu- 
cation would have been considered a rare one, and her acquire- 
ments unusual. She left some compositions in Latin, as a 
proof of these testimonies borne to her by her biographers. One 
is Epistles, Discourses and Poems, and a " Discourse in reply 
to that in which Quintilian accuses a rich man of having pois- 
oned a poor man's bees by planting venomous flowers in his 
garden. ''' * 

After her marriage with William Roper, a young man of great 
merit, who occupied the honorable position of attorney-general, 
Margaret proved herself as devoted a wife as she had been a 
daughter, though she continued for several years to reside in her 
father s house. 

There never was a better instance than that of Margaret 
Roper, to prove that the higher education of women is perfectly 
compatible with their feminine duties. There was, perhaps, 
never a more lovable character than that of our heroine as she 
is described to us, generous, warm hearted, sympathetic, 
intensely womanly, the affections of her heart cultivated in ex- 
act proportion to the culture of her mind. She performed 
every duty the better, because she did it with broad and enlight- 
ened views thereof. Her intellectual endowments served to 
fit her to accomplish better the least detail of household man- 
agement. However, as her life at this time was of a purely 
domestic character, far from the splendors and the turmoils of 
a court, there is little remarkable to record therein. An amiable 
and accomplished woman, young, of pleasing appearance, of 
elegant manners, of uncommon intellectual power, Margaret 
Roper lived contentedly in the sphere to which Providence had 
assigned her. She reminds us of the description of the queenly 
house wife in Solomon. "Sheriseth while it is yet night, and 



* Feller. Biographie Universelle, vol. 7, p. 316. 



MARGARET ROPER. 



101 



giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. 
She maketh herself coverings of tapestry, her clothing silk and 
purple. Strength and honor are in her clothing and she shall 
rejoice in time to come." 

But in the time to come, Margaret Roper had little oppor- 
tunity for rejoicing. She was to enter upon, so to say, the 
public portion of her life, public at least in the sense that it 
belongs to the world in its acts and deeds, in the simple, 
beautiful ideal it presents of filial devotion carried to the verge of 
heroism. In one sense Margaret Roper was a martyr, no less 
than her father, in the cause of truth and justice. She endured 
all that he endured, consoled him, strengthened him, and 
approved, despite her anguish, of his inexorable firmness of 
principle. It may be added that the acute grief occasioned 
by his death, from which she never recovered, brought her to 
an untimely death, at the age of thirty-six. 

Sir Thomas More had in the years that intervened arisen 
almost to the height of earthly honor. His name was deserved- 
ly revered throughout Christendom. He was everywhere 
held upas a model of learning, wisdom and judgment, while 
his piety and holiness of life far exceeded that of most laymen. 
The whole melancholy story would be out of place here. 
From the day when, for conscience' sake, he delivered up the 
great seal with its honors and emoluments into Henry's hands, 
his downfall was gradual but certain. Henry had long sought 
to obtain from his chancellor some approval of the course which 
he was pursuing, but in vain. More observed at first a guarded 
silence ; when he did speak it was to assure the king that he 
considered his marriage with Anna Boleyn unlawful, and advised 
him to consult the Fathers of the Church, instead of his actual 
advisers. Question after question came up. More adhered 
to his principles and his conscience, standing almost alone, 
as it were, in an ocean of corruption. But the incorruptible 
ex-chancellor could not escape the ruthless vengeance of a na- 



102 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



ture that had violated every law of honor and of conscience, 
and that must, indeed, have been maddened by the awful 
consciousness of its own position in regard to an offended God. 
We dare not speak here at length of the author of the English 
reformation, as history daily unfolds him to us, more and more 
clearly, in his hideousness. Placing him in juxtaposition 
with his fellow-reformer Luther, we find in each the parallel of 
the other. History shows us scarce any other instances, wherein 
blind passion had so run away with judgment that it led to 
every excess, and yet would fain have cloaked its crimes under 
the garment of religion. Henry, who had defended the Church 
against Luther, Luther who had replied to Henry with ridicule 
and invective, stand side by side, before the gaze of posterity, 
truly an unrighteous pair ; let partial men strive, ever so hard, 
by special pleading, to justify them in their infamy. 

More, who had been, in better and happier days, the king's 
beloved friend and faithful counsellor, began now to anticipate 
his own arrest. After his arrest he went forward even and fore- 
saw his final doom. To Margaret, who had become, in these 
later years especially, his child of predilection, as well as his 
confidante and adviser, he says : 

"And notwithstanding also I have good hope that God 
shall never suffer so good and wise a prince, in such way to re- 
quite the long service of his true, faithful servant, yet, since 
there is nothing impossible to fall, I forget not in this matter 
the counsel of Christ in the gospel, that ere I should begin to 
build this castle for the safeguard of mine own soul, I should 
sit and reckon what the charge should be. I counted, 
Margaret, full surely many a restless night, and weighed ere 
I slept, what peril might befall me ; so far forth, that I am sure 
there came no care above mine. And in devising thereupon, 
daughter, I had a full, heavy heart. But yet, I thank our Lord 
that, for all that, I never thought to change, though the very 
uttermost should happen to me that my fears are upon." 



MA R GA RE T R OPER. 



Sir Thomas was first summoned before the Council to answer 
some charge in connection with disturbances occasioned by a 
woman known as the "Maid of Kent" against the king's majesty. 
Nothing could be proved against him, and when More re- 
turned home, William Roper, Margaret's husband, said to 
him : 

" I hope all is well, since you are so merry ?" 
" It is so, indeed, I thank God/' answered More. 
"Are you, then, out of the parliament bill?" asked Ro- 
per. 

4< By my troth, I never remembered it," cried More ; u but 
I will tell thee why I was so merry ; because I had given the 
devil a foul fall, and that with those lords I had gone so far as, 
without great shame, I can never go back again." Sir James 
Mackintosh speaks of " a greatness in these few and simple 
words which scarcely belongs to the sayings of any other 
man. 

But as More well knew, his acquittal on this oc casion was 
temporary, indeed. On the 13th of April, 1534, a summons 
reached Chelsea for him to appear at Lambeth, and take the 
oath acknowledging the supremacy. With a sort of presenti- 
ment of the events of that day, the ex-chancellor had arisen 
early and received the Sacraments. When the pursuivants 
arrived to arrest him, his children accompanied him sadly and 
silently towards the water's edge, as had been their invariable 
custom. But alas, with what different feelings. At the garden- 
gate, leading to the Thames, he kissed them all and bade 
them return. William Roper accompanied him, as well as 
four of his servants. While the boat pushed off from the shore 
Margaret stood within the garden, rooted to the spot, gazing 
after her beloved father. It was but the first step on the sorrow- 
ful path she had to tread, Nor could she be comforted, while 
More and his son-in-law went on to the dire end of that sad 
journey, the former saying to the latter : "Son Roper,.! thank 



104 



U'OMEX OF CATHOLICITY. 



our Lord the field is won !'* Which Roper took to mean, that 
the love of God had overbalanced every other feeling in his 
own soul. We will not dwell upon that preliminary investi- 
gation nor upon that mournful 17th April, when More was 
conveyed to the Tower, in the custody of Sir Richard South- 
well, He went with his accustomed cheerfulness, speaking 
kindly and pleasant words to all who crossed his path. 

The news would have prostrated Margaret were it not for 
the heroic fortitude with which a long and habitual piety 
and love of God had inspired her. It afflicted all that once 
prosperous and even devotedly attached family, but the keen 
sensibilities, the delicate organization of Margaret, and her 
peculiar love for her father, caused her to suffer incompar- 
ably the most. She had but one thought thenceforth, and that 
was, how she might reach her father to comfort and console 
him, if not to deliver him from his terrible situation. 

During the first month of his imprisonment Margaret could 
not get near him. Despite all her efforts, she was deprived of 
what would have been a supreme consolation. She contrived, 
however, to send him the following letter, which it cannot be 
out of place to give here: 

" Mine own good father: — It is to me no little comfort 
since I cannot talk with you by such means as I would, at the 
least way to delight myself in this bitter time of your absence, 
by such means as I may, by as often writing to you as shall be 
expedient, and by reading again and again your most fruitful 
and delectable letter, the faithful messenger of your very vir- 
tuous and ghostly mind, rid from all corrupt love of worldly 
things, and fast knit only in the love of God and desire of 
heaven, as becometh a very true worshipper and a faithful 
servant of God. He, I doubt not, good Father, holdeth His 
holy hand over you, and shall, as He hath done, preserve you 
both body and soul; and namely, now when you have objected 
all earthly consolations, and for His love resigned yourself, 



MARGARET ROPER. 



willingly, gladly, and fully to His holy protection. Father, what 
think you hath been our comfort since your departing from us? 
Surely, the experience we have had of your life past, and God- 
ly conversation, and wholesome counsel, and virtuous exam- 
ple, and a surety not only of the continuance of the same, but 
also a great increase, by the goodness of Our Lord to the great- 
ness and gladness of your heart, devoid of all earthly dregs 
and garnished with the noble vesture of heavenly virtues, 
a pleasant palace for the Holy spirit of God to rest in, 
who defend you (as I doubt not, good Father, but of 
His goodness He will) from all trouble of mind and body ; 
and give me, your most loving, obedient daughter and hand- 
maid, and all of us your children and friends, to follow that 
which we praise in you, and to our only comfort remember, 
and, coming together of you, that we may in conclusion meet 
with you, mine own dear father, in the bliss of heaven, to 
which our most meiciful Lord has biought us with His precious 
blood. 

" Your own most loving, obedient daughter and beadswoman, 
Margaret Roper, who desireth above all worldly things to be in 
John-a- Wood's # stead, to do you some service. But we live in 
hope that we shall shortly receive you again. I pray God 
heartily we may, if it be His holy will." 

When Margaret received no answer to this letter, her suffer- 
ings were increased ten-fold, and her woman's wit set to work 
to devise some means of gaining access to the being whom, 
perhaps, of all others she loved the most dearly. 

" Her ingenuity/' says a biographer, "j* " devised what ordinary 
ingenuity would have failed to discover. In hours of severest 
trial, woman has often shown herself possessed of resources 
denied to him who claims to be her superior. Of this truth 



* John-a-Wood, an attendant, who accompanied More to the Tower, 
t Walter. Sir Thomas More, His Life and Times, p. 251. 



io6 



1V0MEX OF CATHOLICITY, 



did Margaret, in the instance before us, exhibit a striking ex- 
ample. The pious yearnings of a daughter's heart were to be 
satisfied, and love devised the means, daring, if not desperate, 
as they might appear to a less resolute spirit. " 

"After Sir Thomas had been in prison a months space or 
so/' says another chronicler, * "his daughter Margaret, anx- 
iously desiring to see him, wittily invented this craft. She 
wrote a lettter, wherein she seemed to labor to persuade him 
to take the oath, and sent it to her father, nothing doubting 
that it would be intercepted and carried to Cromwell, and that 
it would be the means of gaining her access to her father, and 
the sleight succeeded." 

Cresacre, a nephew of Margaret, also alludes to it, in the 
same sense. For nothing could be farther from Margaret's 
thoughts than to persuade her father against his conscience. 
However, her device had its effect. An order was given by 
Cromwell for Margaret's admission into the Tower. But in 
the meantime, she received from her father a tender but re- 
proachful letter. For of course he had not divined her motive 
in writing as she had done. Speaking of his sorrow and 
troubles, he says: 

''But surely they all touched me never so near, nor were 
so grievous unto me, as to see you. my well-beloved child, in 
such vehement, piteous manner, labor to persuade unto me 
the thing wherein I have, of pure necessity for respect unto 
mine own soul, so often given you so precise answer before. " 

He implores her in conclusion to have recourse in all her 
agonies and distress to the Passion of Christ. His whole letter 
throughout is a model of courage, tendern ess, and fervent 
piety. 

However, in or about the end of May, Margaret obtained 
permission to visit her father. The account of their interview 



* Rastell, a nephew of Margaret. 



MARGARET ROPER. 



107 



is deeply touching. It would be difficult, indeed, to enter 
into that daughter s feelings, as she entered those portals, 
so terrible already in their dire historic interest. How her 
faithful heart must have throbbed with mingled joy and an- 
guish at the approach of that longed-for meeting. The door 
of his cell was thrown open, and in another instant Margaret 
had fallen upon her father's neck in a long, silent embrace. 
Neither spoke a word. There were no words for such thoughts 
as theirs. It was joy to Margaret to see the beloved face again, 
it was agony to her to meet her father as a prisoner, that 
father whom she had so lately seen in the day of his power, 
having within reach the summit of earthly ambition. In 
a moment more, the captive had sunk upon his knees and 
Margaret knelt with him. Prayer, which had entered into all 
their actions, came now to restore the tranquillity of both. When 
they had arisen, More spoke, embracing Margaret again, and 
looking to the full as cheerful as the latter had ever seen him. 
"Well, I verily believe, Meg," he said, " that they who have put 
me here, ween they have done me a high displeasure. But I 
assure thee, on my faith, mine own good daughter, if it had 
not been for my wife, and ye who be my children, I should 
not have failed long ere this to have been inclosed in as straight 
a room, and straighter, too. But, since I have came hither 
without my own desert, I trust that God of His goodness will 
discharge me of my care, and with His gracious help supply my 
lack among ye. I find no cause, I thank God, Meg, to reckon 
myself in worse case here than at home; for methinks God mak- 
eth me a wanton, and setteth me on his lap, and dandleth me" 
But the visit was necessarily of short duration, and Margaret 
had the grief of parting from her father, who was, indeed, as 
much distressed to witness the departure of her, " whom/' says 
a chronicler, " he loved first and best/' He gave her a letter 
to convey to his wife and other children, which the courageous 
daughter concealed in her dress. 



io8 



WOMEiV OF CATHOLICITY. 



Margaret, however, had another interview with her father, of 
which she gives a long but most interesting account of all that 
transpired between them, in a letter to Alice Allington, her 
step-sister, who had informed her of certain influence she had 
brought to bear on the Lord Chancellor Audley, to procure 
Sir Thomas' release. This epistle contains many characteris- 
tic touches, and gives us an admirable insight into the relations 
between father and daughter, and the womanly weakness with 
which Magaret puts forward arguments, and grasps at any straw 
which may enable her father, with a clear conscience, to obey the 
King's good pleasure. This pardonable weakness is controvert- 
ed by the father's unanswerable logic. His consistency found 
no outlet from the position wherein he was, save treason to 
his God. Margaret writes as follows: 

" Sister Allington: — When I came next unto my father, 
methought it both convenient and necessary to show him 
your letter : Convenient, that he might see your loving labors 
taken for him : necessary, since he might perceive thereby, that 
if he stood still in this scruple of conscience (so at least it is 
called by so many who are his friends, and by his wife), all his 
friends that seem most able to do him good, either shall finally 
forsake him, or, peradventure, not be able, indeed, to do him 
any good at all. For these causes, at my next being with him, 
after your letter received, when I had awhile talked with him, 
first of his diseases, and that I found by his words they were not 
much increased, but continued after the manner that they did 
before, and as at that time I found him out of pain, and, as one 
in his case might, meetly, well minded, after our Seven Psalms 
and our Litany said, to sit and talk, and be merry, beginning 
first with other things, of the good comfort of my mother, and 
the good order of my brother and all my sisters, disposing them- 
selves every day, more by more, to set little by the world, and 
draw more and more to God ; and that his household, his 
neighbors, and other good friends abroad diligently remem- 



MARGARET ROPER. 



109 



bered him in their prayers. I added : I pray God, good father, 
that their prayers and ours, and your own therewith, may pur- 
chase of God the grace, that you may in this great matter (for 
which you stand in this trouble, and for your trouble, all we al- 
so that love you) take such a way by time, as, standing with the 
pleasure of God, may content and please the King, whom ye 
have always found so singularly gracious unto you, that, if we 
were stiffly to refuse to do so the thing that were his pleasure, 
which, God not displeased, you might do (as many great, wise 
and well learned men say, that in this thing you may), it would 
be a great blot in your worship in every wise man's opinion, 
and as myself have heard some say. 

''But as for that point, farther I will not be bold to dispute up- 
on, since I trust in God, and your good mind, that you will 
look surely thereto ; and your learning I know for such, that I 
wot well you can. But one thing is there which I, and other your 
friends perceive abroad, which, if it be not shown you, you 
may, peradventure, to your great peril mistake, and I hope 
shall be likely to fall to you for less harm, than I sore fear me, 
or, as for good, I wot well that in this world, of this matter at 
least, ye look for none. I tell you, father, that I have received 
a letter of late from my sister Allington, by which I see well, 
that, if ye change not your mind, ye are likely to lose all those 
friends that are about to do you any good. Or if you lose not 
their good will, you shall at least the effect thereof, for any good 
that they shall be able to do you. With this my father smiled 
upon me and said, ' What ! Mistress Eve, as I called you when 
you came first, hath my daughter Allington played the serpent 
with you, and with a letter set you a work to come tempt your 
father again : and for the favor that your bear him, labor to 
make him swear against his conscience, and to send him to 
the. devil V And after that he looked sadly again, and earnestly- 
said to me, 1 Daughter Margaret, we two have talked this thing 
over twice or thrice, and the same tale in effect that you tell 



I IO 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



me now, and the same fears, too, have you twice told me before, 
and I have twice answered you, that, if in this matter it were 
possible for me to content the King's grace, and God therewith 
not offended, there hath no man taken this oath already 
more gladly than I would do ; as one that reckoneth himself 
more deeply bounden than any other to the King's highness, 
for his singular bounty many ways showed to me. But since, 
standing my conscience, I can in no wise do it, and that for 
instructing my conscience in this matter, I have not slightly 
considered, but many years advised and studied, and never yet 
could see nor hear the thing, nor I think ever shall, that could 
induce my mind to think otherwise. I have no manner of rem- 
edy; God hath placed me in this strait, that either I must 
deadly displease Him, or abide any worldly harm that, for any 
other sins He shall, under the name of this thing, suffer to 
fall upon me. Which thing, as I have before told you, I have 
ere I came here, not left unbethought or unconsidered the 
very worst and uttermost that can by possibility befall. And 
albeit that I know my own frailty full well and the natural 
faintness of my own heart, yet if I had not trusted that God 
would give me strength rather to endure all things than offend 
him by swearing ungodly against my conscience, you may be 
very sure I should not come here. And as in this matter I look 
only to God, it concerns me but little though men call it as it 
pleases them, and say it is no conscience, but a foolish scruple/' 
"At this word, I took a good occasion, and said to him thus : 
1 In good faith, father, for my part, I neither do, nor would it 
become me to mistrust your good mind or your learning/ " 

She goes on to remind her father that the Lord Chancellor Aud- 
ley had treated his firmness as a mere scruple and advances argu- 
ments, all of which Sir Thomas combated with his usual gentle 
wisdom. Thus he said to her, as she relates in her own words : 
l< And yet believe I not very surely that every man so thinketh 
that so saith. But though they did, daughter, that would not 



MARGARET ROPER. 



Ill 



make much to me, not though I should see my Lord of 
Rochester (Bishop Fisher) say the same, and swear the oath 
himself before me. For, whereas you told me right now, that 
such as love me would not advise me, against all other men, to 
lean upon his mind alone ; verily, daughter, no more I do. 
For albeit of very truth, I have him in that reverend estimation, 
that I reckon in this realm no one man, in wisdom, learning, 
and long approved virtue, meet to be matched with him, yet, 
that in this matter I was not led by him, plainly appeared both 
in that I refused the oath before it was offered him. Verily, 
daughter, I never intended to pin my soul to another man's 
back, not even the best man that I know this day living." 

He goes on to dwell upon the different motives which might 
induce men to subscribe to the oath, and continues : 

k< e 'But, in good faith, Margaret, I can use no such ways in so 
great a matter ; but as if mine own conscience served me, I 
would not let to do it, though other men refused, so, though 
others do it, I dare not, my own conscience standing against it. 
If I had, as I told you, looked but lightly on the matter, I 
should have cause to fear ; but now have I looked on it so long, 
that I purpose at least to have no less regard unto my soul 
than had once a poor honest man of the country, called Cum- 
pany/ And with this/' continues Margaret, ''he told me a tale, 
which I ween I can scant tell you again, because it hangeth up- 
on some turns and ceremonies of the law. But as far as I can 
call it to mind it was this. There is a court belonging to every 
fair, to do justice in such things as happen within the same. 
This court had a pretty fond name, but I cannot happen on it ; 
but it beginneth with a pie, and the remnant goeth much like 
the name of a knight that I have known, I wis, and you, too, 
I trow, for he hath been at my father's oft, at such times as you 
were there, a meetly tall, black man ; his name was Sir William 
Pounder." 

A biographer remarks that in her manner of alluding to what 



112 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



was called the court of Pie Powder, Margaret shows a touch of 
that quaint humor which characterized her father. It is not 
necessary to give here the anecdote, which Sir Thomas More 
told, according to his own manner of getting at truths by pecu- 
liar ways. He goes on to prove by weighty and impressive ar- 
guments that he could not frame unto himself a conscience as so 
many had done. "If," he says, "a man would in a matter 
take away by himself, upon his own mind alone, or with some 
few ; or with never so many, against an evident truth, appearing 
by the common faith of Christendom, this conscience is very 
damnable." 

He declared and even repeated over and over again, that he 
would misjudge no other man's conscience, nor impute to them 
ill motives. "But," he adds, "to this shall I say to thee, 
Margaret, that in some of my reasons, I nothing doubt at all, 
that though not in this realm, yet in Christendom, those well 
learned and virtuous men still living, who are of my opinion, 
are not the fewer part." 

"Concerning mine own self," he continues, u for thy comfort 
shall I say to thee, daughter, that our conscience in this matter 
is such as may well stand with my own salvation; thereof am I, 
Meg, as sure as there is a God in heaven. And, therefore, as 
for all the rest, lands, goods and life itself (if the chance should 
so fortune) since this conscience is sure for me, I verily trust in 
God, that He shall rather strengthen me to bear the loss, than 
against this conscience to swear, and put my soul in peril." 

"When he saw me," goes on Margaret, "sit at this very 
sad — as I promise you, sister, my heart was full heavy for the 
peril of his person, for in faith, I fear not for his soul — he smiled 
upon me, and said : i Why, how now, daughter Margaret; how 
now, Mother Eve, where is your mind now ? Sit you not mus- 
ing with some serpent in your breast upon some new persuasion, 
to offer Father Adam the apple once again V — 'In good faith, 
father/ quoth I, 'I can no farther go. I am, as I trow Cresside 



MARGARET ROPER, 



saith in Chaucer, comen to Dulcarno, even at my wits end. 
For since the example of so many wise men cannot in this 
matter move you, I see not what more to say/ " She goes on 
speaking in this lighter vein, till suddenly resuming her gravity, 
she adds : 

" * But yet, father/ quoth I, { I fear me very sore that this mat- 
ter will bring you into marvellous, heavy trouble. ' " When More 
in reply to her, hints "that the very uttermost may happen to 
him, which his fears run upon," Margaret writes: 

" ' No father/ quoth I, ' it is not like to think upon a thing 
that may be, and to see a thing that shall be, as ye should (Our 
Lord save you) if the chance should so fortune. And then 
should you, peradventure, think what you think not now, and 
yet then, peradventure, it would be too late/ ' Too late/ Mar- 
garet/ quoth my father, 'I beseech our Lord, that, if ever I make 
such a change, it may be too late, indeed. For well I wot the 
change cannot be good for my soul ; that change, I say, that 
should grow by fear. And, therefore^ I pray God, that, in this 
world, I may never have good of such a change. For as 
much as I take harm here, I shall at least have the less thereof 
when I am hence/ " Continuing in the same lofty strain, 
More adds : "If, for mine other sins, I shall suffer in such a 
cause as I shall not deserve, His grace shall give me strength Co 
bear it patiently, and peradventure, somewhat gladly, too, 
whereby His High Goodness shall, through the merits of His 
bitter Passion, make it serve for a release of the pain in purga- 
tory and over that for increase of some reward in heaven." 

He goes on in a spirit of admirable humility to declare that 
like Peter he shall call upon the Lord if about to perish, or 
that if God should permit him to imitate that disciple in his 
fail, that the Lord would nevertheless raise him up again. In 
this whole paragraph we cannot too much admire the total 
absence of presumptuous self-confidence, which would deem 
himself impervious to temptation. His noble humility deserves 



114 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



the greater admiration, when we consider how grandly he fought 
the fight to the end, and died a hero and a martyr. More then 
goes on to beg Margaret's care of "your good mother my wife. 
Of your good husbands mind, I have no manner of doubt/' he 
says. He sends kindly messages to all relations, friends, acquaint- 
ances, and even servants, begging their prayers. "If anything 
happen to me/' he adds, " that you would be loath, pray to God 
forme but trouble not yourself. Pray for me/' he concludes, 
"as I shall pray for all of us, that we may meet together once in 
heaven, where we shall make merry forever and never have 
trouble more." 

As if overcome by these words of her father s, Margaret ends 
her letter without a syllable of comment. It would seem as if 
emotion overpowered her. She merely subscribes herself, 
"Your Sister, Margaret Roper." 

Margaret was permitted free access to her father, for his en- 
emies hoped that her influence with him would avail to bring 
him over to the King's way of thinking. They little knew the 
father, nor, indeed, the daughter, who was able to rejoice at "the 
philosophic grandeur of his mind under such trials." 

The various interviews of More and his daughter are most 
affecting. On one occasion, as she stood with him at the Tower 
window, they saw three monks of the Charter House, with their 
saintly abbot, on the way to execution: More breaking silence, 
suddenly exclaimed : a Lo ! dost thou not see, Meg, that these 
blessed fathers be now so cheerfully going to their death as 
bridegrooms to their marriage. And hereby, mine own good 
daughter, thou mayst see what a great difference there is be- 
tween such as have spent the whole of their days in a strict and 
penitential life, and such as have lived a wretched, worldly 
life, as thy poor father hath done, consuming their time in ease, 
and in things little conducive to salvation." 

On another occasion, looking out through the prison bars 
on the roofs of the buildings whitened by snow : "Ah, Mar- 



MARGARET ROPER. 1 1 5 

garet/' said he, " how like to the shortest winter day is the pros- 
perity of this world. " Once or twice their conversation turned 
upon Anna Boleyn, a rare theme enough, for More studiously 
avoided ail reference to the Court. But it so chanced that 
Sir Thomas asked his daughter : 
" How say they that she is ?" 

" In faith, father, " replied Margaret, " never better, as they 
report." " Alas, Meg/' quoth he, "it pitieth me to think into 
what misery that poor soul shall come, and that very shortly, 
too."' 

Again he was told that Anne delighted the King with her 
dancing. ' 'Well may it fare with her," quoth he, ci these sports will 
end in sorrow. Our heads must pay for this dancing ; let 
her stand fast ; I charge her !" 

To Margaret, " the faithful depositary of her father's coun- 
sels," he writes upon another occasion : 

"Our Lord bless you and all yours. For as much, dearly 
beloved daughter, as it is likely that you either have heard, or 
shortly shall hear, that the counsel were here this day, and that 
I was before them, I have thought it necessary to send you 
word how the matter standeth." 

He proceeded to tell her that, indeed, there was little differ- 
ence between that and his last examination, aud gave her in 
detail an account of the whole interview. He ended by saying : 
"In conclusion, Master Secretary said that he liked me this 
day much worse than he did the last time. For then he said 
he pitied me much, and now he thought I meant not well. But 
God and I both know that I mean well, and so I pray God do 
by me. I pray you be you and mine other good friends of 
good cheer, whatsoever fall of me and take no thought for me, 
but pray for me, as I do and shall for you and all of them. 

" Your tender, loving father," 
" Thomas More, Knight." 

Besides his letters, the prisoner had occupied his leisure in 



WOMEX OF CA THOLICITY. 



writing various works, such as a " Treatise on Receiving the 
Elessed Body of Our Lord/"' and so on. But this source of 
consolation was to be taken from him. He was deprived of 
writing materials, as previously he had been of his spiritual joys, 
such as Mass, Communion and pious reading. When his writing 
effects had been packed into a bag, Sir Thomas was seen to go 
round and shut up all the windows. He was asked why. 
" Oh, ' said he, (i when the wares are gone, and the tools taken 
away, what is to be done but shut up shop ?" 

After this he had to write his letters with a piece of coal. 
He himself said jestingly, speaking of his daughter Margaret, 
and of his letters to her, which were now his sole delight : u A 
whole peck of coal would not suffice me to do justice to her 
goodness." 

In fact, during the dreary term of his imprisonment Margaret 
was his good angel. Her visits were his sunshine. Her gentle 
ministering to his wants, her words of hope and of good cheer, 
were all that remained of the fair promise with which his career 
had commenced. But they were not a little ; Margarets nature 
was capable of much that was beyond the ordinary range of 
her sex, while she had all a woman's power of alleviating suffer- 
ing, a true, feminine fortitude, and a tenderness, which her ex- 
traordinary love for a gifted father exalted into something almost 
Superhuman. The following two notes were written to her by 
Sir Thomas, with his new implement : 

r< Mine own good daughter : Our Lord be thanked, I am 
in good health of body, and in good quiet of mind, and of 
worldly things I no more desire than I have. I beseech Him 
to make you all merry in the hope of heaven. As to such things 
as I somewhat longed to talk with you all, concerning the world 
to come, the Lord put them into your minds, as I trust He doth 
and better, too, by His Holy Spirit. May He bless you and 
preserve you all. 

" Written with a coal, by your tender loving father, who in his 



MARGARET ROPER. 



117 



poor prayers forgetteth none of you all, nor your babes, nor 
your nurses, nor your husbands, nor your good husbands' 
shrewd wives, nor your father's shrewd wife neither, nor our 
other friends. And thus fare ye heartily well, for lack of paper. 

"Thomas More, Knight. " 

" Our Lord keep me continually true, faithful, and plain; 
to the contrary whereof, I beseech Him heartily, never to surfer 
me to live. For, as for long life, as I have often told thee 
Meg, I neither look for, nor long for, and am well content to go, 
if God call me hence to-morrow. And I thank Our Lord, I know 
no person living that I would should have one fillip for my 
sake, of which mind I am more glad than of all the world be- 
sides. Recommend me to your shrewd Will, and mine other 
good sons, and to John Harris, my friend, and yourself know- 
eth to whom else ; and to my shrewd wife above all ; and God 
preserve you all; and make and keep you as His servants. T. M." 

With Bishop Fisher, his illustrious fellow captive in the 
Tower, More was enabled to communicate by means of scrolls 
and fragments of writing. These good men consoled each 
other for the plight they were in, with Christian hope, and ar- 
dent, fraternal charity. They never met again on earth, and the 
correspondence was made a reproach to More at his trial. 

But the closing scene of his own life was at hand. We can 
barely mention here the infamous efforts made to convict the 
ex-chancellor by means of spies. Nor are w r e concerned with 
that trial, which was one of the grandest on record. Sir James 
Mackintosh cries out : "that no such culprit had stood at any 
European bar for a thousand years." In spite of all the efforts 
made to prevent More from speaking, or confuse his mind, 
by a multiplicity of charges, he appeared in court with a maj- 
esty which is almost unparalleled in the history of political trials. 
He told Rich, the infamous spy, who had falsified his word 
intheTow T er, that he was more concerned because of his per- 



n8 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY, 



jury than for his own danger. "If this oath of yours, Mr. 
Rich, be true/' he said, "then do I pray that I may never see 
God in the face ; which, were it otherwise, I would not say were 
it to win the world. " 

However, spite of More's able and forcible defence, which 
was in every way worthy of his keen and vigorous mind, spite of 
everything to denote his innocence and his moral grandeur, the 
jury in a quarter of an hour returned a verdict of guilty." 

After this More declared his belief that the supreme govern- 
ment of the Church could only belong to the Pope, c< right- 
fully belonging to the See of Rome, as a special prerogative 
granted by the mouth of Christ Himself to St. Peter, and the 
Bishops of Rome, His successors. " 

He further declared that ten to one of u the learned and vir- 
tuous men of Christendom were of his mind." 

When sentence of death, hanging, drawing, and quartering 
w r as pronounced upon him, More once more made a full and 
free declaration of his belief, saying that the king had violated 
his coronation oath to protect the liberties of the Church, and 
adding that he had in support of his opinion, " the consent of all 
Christendom for more than a thousand years/' In conclusion, 
he said to the Commissioners, that the Apostle Paul had been 
present at the death of Stephen and consented to it, yet was 
now reigning with him in heaven. "So do I verily trust, and 
shall, therefore, right heartily pray, that, though your lordships 
have now, here on earth, been judges to my condemnation, we 
may, nevertheless, hereafter meet in heaven merrily together to 
our everlasting salvation." 

When More came out of the Court House guarded, William 
Roper, Margaret's husband, rushed through the crowd, and 
threw himself at More's feet, begging his blessing. When the 
barge landed at the foot of the Tower, More caught sight of 
his Margaret, whom the biographer sympathetically calls " his 
good angel." She saw the axe borne before her father, with the 



MA R GA RE T R OPER. 



II 9 



blade turned towards him, and knew the sign. It was just with- 
out the gates of the old fortress that this most touching scene 
on record took place. 

Margaret, overborne with grief as she was, made her way 
through the crowd, and flung herself on her father s neck, kiss- 
ing him repeatedly, and crying with the tears running down 
her face: " O my father ! O my father i are you going to 
leave us ? Are they so wicked as to take your life ?" A spec- 
tator writes that, il this scene made the hearts of the very hai- 
berd-men full of grief.''' 

The father replied to his daughter's words, that she must sub- 
mit to the will of God, and pray for his enemies, u that she 
knew full well all the secrets of his heart, and that, like him, 
she must conform to the decrees of Heaven and be patient. " 

l< They parted/' says a chronicler, but, ** scarcely had she 
gone ten steps, when, not satisfied with the former farewell, like 
one who had forgotten herself, ravished with the entire love of 
so worthy a father, she again rushed through the closing guards, 
hung about his neck, and divers times kissed him." And she 
cried out, " Dear loved father, your blessing again."' More s 
philosophy was not proof against this, and he burst into tears.* 

This farewell being ended, More felt that the bitterness of death 
was over. He awaited his sentence with cheerfulness. He 
wrote to his daughter the day before his execution a letter which 
contained a message and a benediction to each of his friends, 
and even to his servants. In it he said; speaking of that 
last sad meeting : "I never liked your manner towards me 
better than when you kissed me last, for I am most pleased 
when your daughterly love and dear charity have no leisure to 
look to worldly courtesy. Farewell, my dear child, and pray for 
me, and I shall for you, and for all your friends, that we may 



* Campbell's English Chancellors. Burke's Men and Women of the 
English Reformation. Walter's Life and Times of Sir. T, More. 



120 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



merrily meet in heaven. I thank you for your great cost." 

Again, he says: " I cumber you, good Margaret, much, and I 
should be sorry if it were to be any longer than to-morrow : for 
it is St. Thomas' even, and vigil of St. Peter ; and therefore to- 
morrow long I go to God/' 

On the morning of Tuesday, July 6th, 1535, Sir Thomas 
More was brought to the scaffold. His progress thither, hold- 
ing a red cross in his hands, is very beautiful, but we cannot 
give it in detail. As he went, a woman in the crowd offered him 
wine; he gentlyrefused it, saying : " Christ at the time of His 
Passion drank no wine, but' vinegar and gall/' On the scaffold 
he begged the people to pray for him, and declared that he 
died in the Holy Catholic Faith, a loyal servant of God and the 
King. He jested to the last, even with his executioner, and, as 
a chronicler remarks, laid down his head upon the block, "with 
alacrity and spiritual joy." It is unnecessary to quote the unan- 
imous opinions upon this great and good man. Christendom 
mourned him as one of the greatest losses it had ever sustained. 

Certainly, the Reformation was not happy in these most con- 
spicuous of its victims, Sir Thomas More, and the learned and 
saintly Bishop Fisher, who had expiated his loyality to God 
on the scaffold but two weeks before. It could not have chos- 
en throughout Europe two men more universally esteemed, 
not by one party, but by nations, not alone on account of their 
piety and eminent virtues, but on account of their scholarship; 
on account of their acuteness of mind, profound philosophy, 
keen insight into men and things, and vigor of understanding. 
Were we speaking of a mere human institution rather than of 
the Church of God, we might say, that the fact that these men 
believed in its doctrines would be sufficient to commend it to 
any thinking person. Their disavowal of the act of suprema- 
cy, one of the most tyrannical, putting aside the religious aspect 
of it, that ever disgraced any legislation, might well tend to 
make rational beings reflect. It certainly goaded to madness 



MARGARET ROPER. 



121 



the wretched king, who was the cause of so terrible a misfortune 
to his people. By his act he cut them off for generations from 
the unity of Christendom, and put them outside the pale of 
God's Church. Confront Henry with his ex-Chancellor, Luther, 
with Fisher, and assuredly if we judge of a tree by its fruit, we 
shall know which it is that deserves to be cut down and cast into 
the fire. 

"In this dreadful deed,''" (Mores death) says Mackintosh, 
" Henry approaches as nearly to the ideal standard of human 
wickedness, as the infirmities of our nature will permit"* 

When the head of Sir Thomas More, the most learned 
and saintly man in the realm of England, was exposed to 
view on London bridge, Margaret, with an affection which 
amounts to heroism, had it taken down and kept it forever 
about her. That precious relic of one she had so loved and 
venerated never left her. It was buried with her. Margaret 
had other no less sacred memorials of her father, his hair- 
shirt and discipline, which he sent to her the day before his 
execution.. " As one that was loth to have the world know that 
he used such austerity, " says a biographer. 1 'Having now finished 
the good fight, he sent away his spiritual weapons. " 

Margaret who alone had been privy to this holysecret of her 
father's had been wont to wash the hair-shirt with her own hands 
for him. Such ideal devotion of this father and daughter is but 
seldom seen. It was Mo re's last request to his enemies that 
a Margaret should be present at his burial/ 5 It was Margaret's 
last prayer that the head of her father be buried with her. 

The nine short years that remained to this pearl of daughters, 
clouded as they were, by a grief that never knew diminishment, 
were also, as the state of the times necessarily made them, 
troublous. i( The small wreck of More's fortune," says his bi- 
ographer, " which had been wasted in the public service, was 



* Hist, of England, Chap. VII. 



122 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



seized as a forfeiture to the crown, although the anxious father 
had endeavored to secure it to his unhappy family, by executing 
conveyances previous to his condemnation for treason, and in 
such abject misery were they left, that they were unable even 
to purchase a winding sheet for his remains. It was supplied 
by the liberality of a friend. " 

It is sad to see that once privileged home at Chelsea, with 
all its appurtenances, the chapel, the gallery, and the library, 
which More had himself built, the flower-gardens he had ar- 
ranged for his own pleasure and that of his children, the room 
u stored with objects of natural history and instruments for the 
study of astronomy, and of music, of which he was passionately 
fond, all that that good father had provided for his children, 
given over to the hands of one of Henry's minions, Sir William 
Paulet. The desolate Margaret was now imprisoned for a time, 
for what crime ? For keeping her father's head, and for threat- 
ening to have his works published. She was, then, sent 
home to her husband. Margaret had two sons and three 
daughters, to whom she thenceforth devoted all her care. She 
adopted her father's theories in relation to their education. 
Hence the eldest of her daughters, who married a lawyer named 
Clarke, became, as Roger Ascham tells us, "an elegant ornament 
of her sex, and of Queen Mary's Court." The second daugh- 
ter was made one of the gentlewomen of Queen Mary's Privy 
Chamber, and married a Mr. Bassett. She, like her mother was 
conversant with Greek and Latin. She left an English transla- 
tion of Eusebius' 'Ecclesiastical History.'' which is preserved in 
MSS. form. She also translated some of her grandfather's works, 
and was considered an astonishingly faithful imitator of his 
style. 

Margaret had, indeed, procured them every possible advan- 
tage. Roger Ascham relates that she sought to engage him as 
preceptor to her children. But that as he could not accept the 
place, on account of his many occupations, he recommended 



MA R GA RE T R OPER. 



Dr. Cole, and Dr. Cnristopherson, afterwards Bishop of Chi- 
chester, both masters of Greek. 

In 1544. Margaret died, very peacefully and calmly, asking 
only that her father s head be placed in her arms. It was done 
as she had requested. She was faithful in death to the master 
passion of her life. She had loved that father, with a love pass- 
ing ordinary human affection. She was buried in the family 
vanlt in St Dunstan s Church, near Canterbury. 

The intensity of [Margaret Roper's filial devotion has perhaps 
thrown into the shade her conduct in her other relations of life. 
Never was their a truer, more loving or more wise and prudent 
wife. Once ; when William Roper from the fervor of his youth 
relapsed into laxity, and even went so far as to imbibe some of 
the new religions notions, Margaret, like another St. Monica, 
by her prayers and wise counsels brought him back to grace, 
and to such good disposition as he was in at the time of his il- 
lustrious father-in-law's death. Nor was Margaret a less model 
mother. She had not learned in vain the lessons of that home 
in Chelsea, and that harpy girlhood of hers, which we love to 
contemplate. 

There, an irreproachable sister., an incomparable daughter 
she was the ornament of that charming and refined circle, which, 
is the model of ail domestic circles, truly Christian, elegant and 
cultured, prosperous, even luxurious, and abounding in all those 
harmless pleasures with which More knew how to render home 
a sort of second Eden. 

Of this pious and accomplished lady, it now but remains for 
us to take leave. Her example is a shining one. Her intel- 
lectual gifts, so happily combined with the rare moral qualities 
which have given her name to posterity, her elegant accomplish- 
ments and graces of manner, united with that wealth of gener- 
ous and exalted affection, with that noble constancy, heroic 
fortitude, energy of purpose, which render her a heroic of filial 
devotion, accompanying her father on all the most important 



124 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



stages of his pilgrimage, she parted from him with such agony, 
that an old chronicler cries out: tc Yea, there were very few 
in all the crowd, who could refrain from weeping at the sight ; 
no, not the guards themselves." 

Yet Margaret had the courage to rejoice at her father's gran- 
deur of soul, and the lively faith, which enabled her to look 
forward till they should, in her father's farewell words to her, 
' ' meet merrily in heaven, " to renew once more that intercourse, 
which had been so sweet to both on earth, 



"And in communion sweet 
Quaff immortality and joy. 



ifilS HIS 




A gift of love unequalled 
From His Heart came to Thee, 
Like the rising of the ocean 

Was the tide of glor ious grace, 
Like the beauty of the morning 
Grew the beauty of thy face. 
Like the glory of an angel 

Was the purity within, 
Like the whiteness of thy namesake, 
Like the Mary without sin. 

Faber. 



garb fa FJittarnattiitu 



Foundress and First Superioress of the Ursulines of Quebec. 

ERHAPS in the whole history of the world there is no 
individual biography more extraordinary than that 
of the marvellously gifted woman, whose life and 




deeds shine out to us from early Canadian chronicles. It 
has a picturesque background : there is primeval Canada 
in all its glorious, virgin beauty, to which imagination 
lends an indescribable enchantment ; there are torrents and 
mighty streams, rushing on to join their voices in the 
eternal roar of the ocean ; there are the skies, many tinted 
and gorgeous, that must have delighted pioneer heaits, as still, 
in the winters and autumns, they charm hearts and minds 
effete with civilization ; there are all the mysterious loveliness 
and wildness and weirdness of awaking life in the shadows of 
untrodden wildernesses : there is the fierce, strong, vitality of 
the children of the soil, Huron, and Iroquois and Algonquin ; 
there is the varied incident, the strangeness of a new life, the 
war, the peril, the change, the tumult, the vicissitude ; there 
are the missionaries, the martyrs, the patriots of heaven, so to 
speak, inflamed with zeal for the country of their adoption ; 
and the patriots of earth ; there are a motley group, soldiers, 
mariners, colonists, trappers, Indians, nuns, bishops, Jesuits, 
Sulpicians, Recollets. But amongst them all, forming a strange, 
translucent aureola, in the darkness of the colonial heaven are 



128 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY, 



a little group of illustrious women, Marguerite Bourgeoys, 
whom we shall in a succeeding sketch consider Madame de 
la Peltrie, who will occur in our present ; and Marie de Tin- 
carnation, whose life and deeds we are now briefly to consider. 
These women were not only nuns, not only saints, but even in 
a secular point of view, benefactors of the early settlements and, 
if we may so express it, colonists, explorers, pioneers. The life 
of Marie Guyart did not, indeed, begin with her journey to 
Canada. In fact, she had before lived a whole life, replete with 
such change, trial, and vicissitude as do not occur within the 
limit of most ordinary existences. She was born in the town 
of Tours, in France, on the 28th October, 1599. Her father, 
Florence Guyart, was a silk mercer, her mother of the illustrious 
house of Babon de la Bourdaisiere. Both were distinguished 
for fervent piety, and the practice of Christian virtues, and early 
sowed in the soul of their favored child the seeds of her future 
holiness. At the age of seven, Marie had a vision, which she 
relates herself in remarkable words. Our Lord Himself ap- 
peared to her in a most beautiful and attractive form, and 
asked her to be His. To which she readily assented. From 
that time forth, the child spent most of her time in prayer be- 
fore the Blessed Sacrament, and in various exercises of piety. 
She evinced an especial attraction for hearing the Word of God, 
and soon began, indeed, to impart it to others. As she grew 
in "wisdom and in grace," charity towards her neighbor 
became likewise a conspicuous trait in her character, and the 
work of the tabernacle and laboring for the poor were at once 
her occupation and delight. Her youth is, in all respects, a 
delightful study. As was to be expected, Marie began to think 
seriously of a conventual life, when in her sixteenth year. Her 
parents had no objection, merely advising her to wait and re- 
flect. As no more passed between them on the subject, the 
parents naturally supposed her choice to have been a mere 
passing whim, and proposed to her a marriage, wherein they 



MARIE DE V INCARNATION. 



129 



saw every prospect of happiness. Marie, from her habit of 
implicit obedience, saw in their expressed wish the will of God 
and became the wife of a certain M. Martin. No doubt this 
union was permitted by Heaven, that the future foundress 
might give an exalted model of Christian wifehood and mother- 
hood. No words can describe her exact fulfilment of every duty. 
Her attention to the smallest detail of household management, 
the gratification of her husband's slightest wish, her patient 
bearing of every trial, and trials were not wanting, her untiring 
solicitude for the welfare, spiritual and corporal, of her only 
son, are all recorded here and above. Her angelic sweet- 
ness of temper, tender and devoted affection for that husband, 
from whom she had much to suffer, — how and in what way 
are not mentioned either by her or her son — made her, indeed, 
another St. Monica. And it is said that her husband regarded 
her with an equal reverence and affection. She busied herself 
no less with the welfare of her servants, her husband's employes, 
for he employed a number of men. In a word she neglected 
nothing, and busy as her life was, found time for prayer, medi- 
tation, uninterrupted commune with her God. On the other 
hand, she was well aware that whenever domestic duties re- 
quired " the sacrifice of her love of prayer and solitude," she 
was doing God's will most perfectly by attending to those 
material calls upon her. In fact, so perfect was the life she led 
during the brief years of her wifehood, that not even the heights 
she afterward attained dwarfs its greatness. She presented in 
those two years a beautiful picture of Christian heroism, Chris- 
tian powers of endurance, Christian charity and unselfishness, in 
fine all those more amiable Christian virtues which shine con- 
spicuous in the saints of God. 

Her widowhood is no less remarkable. First the period of 
solitude and perfect communion with God. Other offers of 
marriage were made to her. New and bright prospects opened 
before her, but she disregarded them all. During this period of 



130 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



seclusion, she herself records a wonderful favor vouchsafed her. 
On Christmas Eve ; 1620, as she was going to church, praying 
as usual, her progress was suddenly arrested. All the sins of 
her past life, great and small, were then revealed to her with 
perfect distinctness. So terrible did even the least sin appear 
to her, that she says she would have died of terror, had not God 
supported her. She saw herself plunged, as it were, into a bath 
of blood, the Blood of Christ. It was revealed to her, that 
Jesus would have suffered as much for each of her individual 
sins, as for those of all mankind. She was so permeated with 
a lively sorrow for her offenses, that she says she could willingly 
have thrown herself into flames to be purified therefrom. She 
entered a neighboring church, and made her confession alone 
to a priest, whom she chanced to meet, and quite indifferent as 
to whether others heard her or not. She also wrote out that 
evening a list of her sins which she begged her confessor to affix 
to the church door. The confessor, Dom Raymond, refused, 
and tore the paper into fragments. He, indeed, spared her 
no test, and was constantly finding new means to try her virtue. 
From this miraculous occurrence, Marie dates her conversion, 
and yet her life, heretofore, had been to human eyes, as her son 
testifies, absolutely blameless. 

Next came her curious experience at her sister s house. The 
latter had asked her — her capacity for business being widely 
known, from her management of her husband s affairs after his 
death — to come to assist her in hers, which were involved. 
On her arrival, and for long after, she did only kitchen work, 
and was treated with contumely by every one, even the servants in 
the house. Her life was a martyrdom, borne with perfect sweet- 
ness and submission. She even took a vow of obedience to 
her sister and brother-in-law. She practised, besides, marvellous 
austerities, wore a hair-shirt next her skin, slept on a board, 
and destroyed her taste for food by chewing wormwood. 
God bestowed upon her at this period very special favors. He 



MARIE DE L'lXCARXATIOX. 



"31 



showed her a soul free from sin, which sight so enchanted her 
that she was willing to do anything to attain such a result. He 
likewise made known, that an unspecified grace, surpassing all 
hitherto given her, should be granted, when she had reached 
the proper degree of perfection. Then it was, that new offers 
of marriage being made to her, and that her relations being 
unanimous in urging her to accept one of them, for the welfare 
of her son, she tor a moment thought of so doing. She ever 
after deplored this, as a grievous offence against the majesty of 
God, who had given her proofs so signal of His mercy. 

After four or five years of servitude, her brother-in-law at 
last permitted her to assume the position for which she had 
come to his house. She had now control of various matters of 
business, which was, indeed, a wonderfully good preparation for 
her life in Canada. Her brother-in-law was Commissary-general 
for the kingdom, so we may imagine of what nature and extern 
were Marie's new duties. She tells us that she spent '-great 
part of the day in a stable used as a store, and that she was often 
on the quay at midnight, sending off or receiving stores." 
and that her " companions were carters, porters, and other work- 
men." Besides she still fulfilled her household duties, and in 
the frequent absences of sister and brother-in-law, attended to 
all their affairs. This was, certainly, a strange epoch in Marie 
Guyart's wonderful life. 

During this time God came to her, literally and in person 
bringing her the gift of peace, which she never afterward lest, 
howsoever sorely she might be tried. He also made known to 
her that the supreme favor which He destined for her, was the 
highest form of union with Himself, vouchsafed to but a few 
chosen souls. In preparation therefor, she renewed her vow of 
chastity, and added the two counsels of poverty and obedience. 
It was during this same period that Marie suffered the most 
terrible trial she had ever known — a long continuance of inter- 
ior darkness and dryness, in which she felt, as it were, complete- 



l 3 2 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



ly forsaken by God. Her spiritual sufferings were excruciating, 
and she was beset by various forms of temptation. Even her 
temper suffered, and she had constantly to guard against irrita- 
bility and impetuosity. So faithful was she amid these trials, 
that they soon came to an end, and she received an ineffable 
reward. She saw her own heart united to the Heart of Jesus, 
and she was transported into the presence of the Blessed Trinity, 
which was made manifest to her in all its operations within and 
without of Itself, Its unity. Its distinctness, and all Its wondrous, 
infinite attributes. She also beheld the nine choirs of angels, 
and understood how a human soul is created to the image of 
God. So was that strong, human soul, strong because it had 
overstepped its humanity, to merge itself in divinity, permitted 
to contemplate supreme perfection. After this favor, the servant 
of God had to pass through another fiery furnace of trial and 
temptation. Still faithful, still strong. And again came the 
recompense. She was taught by new and astonishing revela- 
tions the wonders of the attributes of God. His Unity, Eter- 
nity. Infinity, Greatness, Goodness. Immensity. And all that is 
contained of heavenly things in that marvellous first chapter of 
St. John. Some two years after her first vision of the Trinity, 
she beheld it again, and was now united to it by mysterious 
bonds. The sovereign grace was at last won. Marie Guyart 
was intimately and completely united with God. The storms 
of earth might beat about her henceforth; as one on a moun- 
tain top she might even feel their rage, and experience their 
greater violence. The mountain height was that of Sion, and 
the heavenly city, with its blessed gardens, its gold-paved streets, 
and its walls of precious stone, were forever in her view. 

We must pass from this era of grace to a brief glance at her mon- 
astic life, wherein her highest desire was fulfilled. Though her 
first attraction had been to the Carmelites or some other austere 
order, she now began to feel a strong and special preference 
for the Ursulines, a community which she had never seen. The 



MARIE DE U INCARNATION. 



*33 



object of the institution, similar to that of the Jesuits, was laid 
down by St. Angela, its foundress, the salvation of souls by 
teaching. This mixed life of action and prayer suited Marie 
perfectly. A community of Ursulines came now to Tours to con- 
firm her in her choice. Dom Raymond, her confessor, also 
approved it. She had now but one further trial — her son. In 
fact, the boy, then and for some years after, gave her consider- 
able trouble. Thus when she had just settled him, as she 
thought, in a Jesuit College, he was expelled for insubordination. 
A celebrated Jesuit Father of that time, however, Father de la 
Haye, took Claude Martin under his charge, and placed him at 
another institution of the Order, where he did better. The boy j 
incited by his elders, not only opposed his mother s entrance 
into the community, but after she had actually entered, he being 
provided for by relatives, came with some young companions, 
and literally besieged the convent. However severe a trial as 
the parting with her son was, Marie Guyart overcame it and many 
others, and became at last Marie de Tlncarnation — name 
glorious in the Church, and casting so brilliant a lustre over the 
Order of her choice. We pass over her novitiate, marked by the 
most admirable fidelity to the Rule, her profession, January 25th, 
1663, and her elevation two years after to the post of Assistant 
Mistress of Novices. She had many interior trials during these 
years, and many special graces. Amongst the external ones 
were an infused or supernatural knowledge of Latin, of the Holy 
Scriptures, and a miraculous gift of eloquence. When her in- 
terior trials were at their height the superior called in Father de 
la Haye, who caused Mother Marie to write out an account of 
all the graces God had given her, and the manner in which she 
had corresponded therewith. He decided that she had been 
really guided through all by the spirit of God. 

There is one wonderful occurrence of her later years in 
France that it is necessary should be recorded here. This is, 
the vision in which her Canadian apostolate was shown her 



x 34 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



in the clearest and most unmistakeable manner. She saw a 
lady in a secular dress standing near her. She took this lady 
by the hand, and led her through a toilsome road, though not 
knowing herself their destination. After many obstacles, they 
came to a closed place, guarded by what seemed to be one of 
the Apostles, an old man. He bade them enter. This space was 
"an enchanting spot, " paved with white marble or alabaster, 
united by brilliant bands of red. A delightful stillness reigned 
around. There was a church, surmounted by a seat, on which 
sat Mary, holding Jesus. Beneath was a vast region of moun- 
tains and vales, all covered with mist, save one spot, the site of 
a church. Mary was looking fixedly at this desolate country 
to which but one rugged path led. The saintly Ursuline 
rushed towards it. Mary seemed to confer with her Divine Son, 
and direct His attention to the barren region. She then 
turned to the religious and embraced her three times. 
Meanwhile, the lady in the secular dress stood by, apparently 
watching all. Mother Marie de lTncarnation had a second and 
precisely similar vision, wherein she learned that this desolate 
country was Canada. 

All these years, she was consumed by a burning desire to 
convert heathens and infidels and offered to remain in purga- 
tory till the Judgment Day, if by so doing she could gain such 
an end. It was about this time, too, that it was revealed to 
her that she could obtain anything from the Eternal Father, if 
she asked it through the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And this was 
long before the time of Blessed Margaret Mary, and the devel- 
opment of the devotion to the Sacred Heart. 

A report of the Canadian Missions by a Jesuit Father was 
sent to her just then. It was this self-same report that reached 
Madame de la Peltrie, the destined companion of her labors. 
The latter was a lady of rank, youth, beauty, and fortune. 
Left a widow after five years of married life, this saintly woman 
resolved to devote all she had to the service of God. When the 



MARIE DE L ' INCARNA T10N. 



135 



above-mentioned pamphlet came to her notice, it decided her, 
as it likewise decided Marie de llncarnation, subject to the 
will of her superiors, to go to Canada, and serve God by labor- 
ing among the savages. Madame de la Peltrie had many and 
almost insurmountable obstacles to overcome in going to the 
New World ; she had everything to keep her in France. When 
Marie de Tlncarnation, at the end of a year, made known by 
the command of God her visions, and her desire to go to 
Canada, she was reproached by confessors and superiors alike 
for intolerable presumption. Even Father le Jeune, Superior 
of the missions in Canada, with whom she corresponded, accused 
herof thesame. She submitted joyfully to their decision. Mean- 
while Madame de la Peltrie, wrote to the Jesuit, Father Poncet, 
asking him what nun or nuns she should take with her to 
New France, as she could not go alone. He wrote back that 
" Marie de Tlncarnation had a marked vocation for New France; 
that she possessed all necessary qualifications, and that she would 
fly to the ends of the earth at the call of God." He added " that 
she was to be found in the Ursuline Convent of Tours/' Mad- 
ame de la Peltrie wrote at once to the Superior of that convent 
and to Marie herself. She also came to see them both. The 
Forty Hours were begun as a means of deciding who should go 
to Canada. Every one of the community would fain have gone. 
Besides Marie de Tlncarnation another nun was chosen, Sis- 
ter St. Bernard, in the world, Marie de la Troche, of a noble 
family of Anjou. She had promised St. Joseph to take his 
name if she were chosen. She had apparently been the least 
likely to be singled out, from her youth and not robust 
health. Yet she was Marie de lTncarnation's companion to 
Canada and remained with her to the end. A young girl, 
Charlotte Bane, a kind of recluse, was also to go with them. 
The Archbishop confirmed the choice made, calling Marie de 1' 
Incarnation and Madame de la Peltrie "the foundation stones 
or God's house in the New World." 



136 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



On the 2 2d of February, 1639, Marie de Tlncarnation left the 
Convent of Tours forever, with much regret, and with ineffable 
joy. She had but one more trial to undergo in France. Her 
son was persuaded by others to meet his mother at Orleans, and 
implore her to remain in France. He assailed her at first with 
tears and entreaties, but moved by her words, consented to her 
going, and knelt at her feet for a blessing. 

Just before sailing, Marie de Tlncarnation and her compan- 
ions had an interview with Anne of Austria, that noble Queen, 
who is so often mentioned as a benefactress in the Annals of 
Canada. She ever after extended her protection over the newly 
founded Ursuline Order. Madame de la Peltrie left her faith- 
ful friend, M. de Bernieres, the founder of a pious association 
for laymen, to arrange her affairs in France, which he did up to 
the time of his death, twenty years later. 

On the 4th May, 1639, the Ursulines set sail from Dieppe. 
It was a remarkable coincidence, that the vessel which was to 
bear them to their adopted country was called the "St Joseph/' 
Besides their little group, there were on board some hospital 
nuns of St. Joseph, known more familiarly, now, as Hotel Dieu 
nuns, and the Jesuit Fathers, Poncet, Vimont, and Chaumonot. 
The voyage was truly remarkable. Never did more sublime or 
truly heroic company "go down to the sea in ships/' 
Never was Viking or Berserker of old, in silken-rigged galley, 
aminated by such a spirit as these. In the old Norse fables 
women were not only debarred from all participation in deeds of 
glory during this life, but forbidden after death the warrior s 
Paradise, and condemned to the sad twilight of Hela. And 
here were women setting forth to conquer a continent. A few 
weak women and a handful of men resolved to brave not suffering 
and hardship only, not alone privation and want and exile and 
the rigors of a severe climate, but death and what was worse, 
torture, and that which they sought was not glory. For them no 
death on the "tented field" amid the mighty sounds of contend- 



MARIE DE L ' INCARNA T10N, 



137 



ing armies, with the clarion notes of nations, and the shouts of 
victory, and the roar of cannon mingling in their ears, for them 
no laurel-wreaths, nor crosses, nor medals of honor, no fame, no 
sounding brass, no storied marble. Only life, marred by every 
suffering, indignity, privation. Only death, at some lonely stake in 
the forest, in pestilential wards, on frozen rivers, in the obscurity 
of exile. Only oblivion, for they did not count upon the remem- 
brance of a grateful posterity. The ship was temporarily a con- 
vent, — there were other ships accompanying them, but we speak 
only of the one on which they had embarked. Mass was said every 
day, but during some exceptionally stormy weather. There was 
daily Communion, the usual offices were sung, by the 
Ursulines on one side, and the Hotel Dieu nuns on the others, 
a Jesuit Father presiding. Nothing was omitted, prayer, fasting, 
meditation. Holily thus passed the valiant band over the deep, 
upon which fell a great calm. This picture of the sea voyage 
is beautiful, and how sublime and glorious a prelude to the 
life of more than martyrdom that followed. In their course, 
they, however, met with great dangers. At first, they w r ere 
threatened with capture by a Spanish fleet. But by keeping 
close to the English coast avoided the eminent peril. This de- 
layed them a great deal. On Trinity Sunday they discovered 
their contiguity to a gigantic iceberg. It bore down upon them in 
all its majesty — beautiful, terrific, resplendent. Before this tremen- 
dous creation, the ship was but an atom. But the calmness of 
those on board was only intensified by the apparent approach 
of death. Father Vimont gave general absolution, and all were 
absorbed in the preparation for death. However, a vow was 
registered that if the vessel reached Quebec, its passengers should 
one and all pay a special visit of homage and thanksgiving to 
Mary, Star of the Sea. When hope was at its lowest ebb, the 
captain gave orders to shift the sail. His orders were misunder- 
stood, and the sails shifted in a contrary direction to that which 
he had commanded. This error was the ship's salvation. The 



138 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



vessel turned, and borne to one side of the iceberg, escaped the 
awful peril. 

It was three months before the "St. Joseph" reached Tadoussac. 
To our nineteenth century horror of delay what an affliction 
was ninety days upon the ocean. At Taddoussac, the relig- 
ious, for the first time, encountered Indians — who met them 
with astonishment and fear. The nuns appeared as messengers 
from the Great Spirit — which, indeed, they were — and not mere 
mortals like themselves. When the savages saw them going 
around, caressing the children, embracing the women, as if 
they were beloved sisters, their wonder grew and grew. They 
followed them wherever they went, touched their garments, and 
gazed upon them open-mouthed. When they learned that 
these ladies were the daughters of "Great Chiefs," who had come 
to teach their children, they expressed the most unbounded admir- 
ation. When the religious set sail in the little skiff which was 
to bring them up the river, the Indians followed them along the 
bank, as far as they could. That evening, July 3d, the little 
band of apostles reached the Island of Orleans, just opposite 
Quebec. We can picture the scene. That lovely, green island, 
rich in the summer wealth of luxuriant nature, not as now pop- 
ulous and built up, but lonely in its isolated grandeur, covered 
with mighty trees, the feudal mansions of primal nature, full of 
mazy paths trodden by the red man in the majesty of proprietor- 
ship. Above, casting down its deep-tinted ruby and amber, 
was the Canadian sun, just setting, and lying between masses of 
forest, careless as a Caesar whose dominion is illimitable. Be- 
fore was the river, dark, rolling, impetuous, and the infant city, 
with its fortress, terribly insufficient as a means of defence, a 
church and a few scattered dwellings. As the party landed, 
the island glowed like a jewel in its setting, and the trees stirred 
softly in the breeze of a day that was near its close. Mere 
de l'lncarnation stepped ashore, her calm features radiant with 
the inexpressible joy of a happiness, long craved, found at last. 



MARIE DE VINCARNATION. 



l 39 



Beside her was the gracious and beautiful Madame de la Peltrie, 
still in her first youth, who might have been had she so willed, 
the ornament of a court. No less young, and with a soft angelic 
face, was Mere St. Joseph — who had fulfilled her vow, and 
changed her name from that of St. Bernard, on being allowed to 
go to the New World. The Hospital Sisters, in their pictur- 
esque dress, and the Jesuits followed. There were no dwellings 
of any kind upon the island, so three wigwams were erected, 
one for the Ursulines, one for the Hospital sisters, and one for the 
Jesuits. Such was the nuns' first night in Canada. The Jesuits 
knew the country well, for they were among those pioneers of 
faith, who had already with undaunted step, and uplifted cross, 
explored her wildest recesses. When the news of their arrival 
reached Quebec, great was the joy of the people, and the 
Chevalier de Montmagny, then governor of Canada, sent to 
meet them, what is spoken of in contemporary chronicles as 
"une chaloupe tapissee" or carpeted vessel. On the ist of 
August, 1639, the devoted band set f° ot m Quebec. To say 
that they were warmly greeted would be a mild expression. 
Governor and governed, soldiers, officials, citizens, traders 
came out with drums and trumpets to make them welcome. 
It was a perfect ovation. The whole region rang with it. 
Never was conquering army greeted with greater enthusiasm. 
Work was wholly suspended. Every one rushed forth. Cheers 
and shouts of joy rent the air ; tears flowed in abundance. 
Marie de l'Incarnation and her comrades had taken Quebec 
by storm. Truly, it was a red-letter day in the annals of the 
colony. In solemn procession the new laborers in this western 
vineyard were escorted by the whole population. Mass 
was said with all possible pomp and demonstration, — as far as 
circumstances afforded — and a grand Te Deum was sung. 
God, how it rolled out over the river and into the forests 
and over hills and down into dales. Father le Jeune entoned 
it, the multitude caught it up, chanting it with indescribable 



HO 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



enthusiasm ; sending it as a way cry to the genius loci. The 
cannon from the fort added its thunder, peal upon peal. Happy 
were the settlers, where its voice of terror proclaimed only peace 
and good will. The chapel of Notre Dame de Recouvrance, 
built by Champlain near the Fortress St. Louis, was the theatre 
of this new act in the drama of la Nouvelle France. On the 
site of that chapel stands to-day the Anglican Cathedral. No 
voice ever goes up thence to tell how Marie de lTncarnation 
and her brave companions came and suffered and died to con- 
quer Canada for God. It is conquered — God knows at the 
cost of what toil and hardship and prayer and self-sacrifice, and 
martyrdom, and the manner of that conquest is far too often 
forgotten. In the " Relation des Jesuites " for that year, men- 
tion is made of this event as follows : 

"And the brave Charles Hualt de Montmagny proceeded to 
the shore with all the military and the whole population of 
Quebec, who, at this moment, rent the air with renewed ac- 
clamations." 

" Le Vieux Recit," and other contemporary chronicles, also 
refer to this occasion, and represent the holy religious as 
prostrating themselves to kiss the soil of Quebec as soon as 
they had landed. Mass being said, the governor, and the 
cortege of citizens, proceeded to the Fort. The procession in- 
cluded every one in the town, and Indians, whose strange, un- 
couth garb gave a picturesque wildness to every scene of those 
early days. Now foes to the death, skulking in forest paths, 
or on the banks of rivers, again peaceful allies, joining in the 
sports, the wars, and celebrations of all kinds of their French 
brethren. They run like a minor chord through colonial 
history, and whether for weal or woe, figure as the heroes of 
dark tragedies too horrible in their details for human pen, or 
as the more or less reliable friends and generous protectors of 
the whites. Arrived at the Chateau St. Louis, the religious 
held a veritable levee. Every one of rank, wealth or distinction 



MARIE DE LINCARNA TION. 



141 



of any kind, was present. How dream-like it must have 
seemed to the new-comers, how dream-like is seems to us now, 
this reception in that quaint, primitive building, which already, 
in the brief years of its existence, had grown famous for its 
" high whispering of state.'' 

All the splendors of the Bigot administration were to come, 
the waving plumes and gleaming swords and brilliant uniforms, 
and jewelled broideries and stiff brocades. For it was still the 
serious, earnest days of old Quebec, that witnessed the recep- 
tion of Marie de Tlncarnation, who already in her short life 
had passed through more adventures than the heroine of a 
three volume novel, and was to pass through many more. 
That first day in Quebec the newly arrived dined with the 
governor. That night, they slept, for the first time, in their own 
little habitation, — the store or warehouse in the Lower Town, 
where now stands the strange old Chapel of Our Lady of Vic- 
tory, old to us now, but then unbuilt. They slept upon boughs 
of trees, their baggage and other effects having been delayed 
at Tadoussac. Thus the exiles found their new home at last. 
It is interesting to read the official document or address of wel- 
come, prepared by the governor. It runs as follows : . " We, 
Charles Hualt de Montmagny, Knight of the Order of St. 
John of Jerusalem, Lieutenant for His Majesty all along the 
River St. Lawrence of New France, certify to all whom it may 
concern, that the Reverend Mothers, Ursuline Religious, namely, 
Mother Marie Guyart de lTncarnation, Mother Marie de Sa- 
vonnieres de St. Joseph, of the Convent of the town of Tours, 
and Mother Cecile de St. Croix, of the town of Dieppe, ac- 
companied by the most devout and religious Dame Madeleine 
de Chauvigny, widow of the late Monsieur Charles de Gruel, 
known when living as Seigneur Chevalier de la Peltrie, have 
arrived in this town of Quebec, the 1st of August of the pres- 
ent year, 1639, to establish a house and convent of their Order 
ot St. Ursula, for the glory of God and the education of young 



142 



IVOMEX OF CA THOLICITY. 



girls, both French and Indian, of this country, having come 
hither in a vessel commanded by Jacques Vastel, master of the 
ship of Captain Bontemps, admiral of the fleet of New France, 
after having passed from Dieppe to Tadoussac in the said ship. 
And as soon as we were certain that the said Reverend Mothers 
Ursuline Religious were on the above-mentioned vessel, and 
desired to land, we sent a boat to take and receive them, and 
went ourselves to meet them on the river bank, accompanied 
by the principa inhabitants, and followed by numbers of people 
who manifested extraordinary joy, in which we concurred by 
the discharge of cannon from the fort, and led them to the 
Church, where Holy Mass was celebrated, and the Te Deum 
Laudamus sung, to thank God for their safe arrival, and for the 
great good which we expected thence, for the glory of God, 
and the common edification and utility, as already displayed to 
the great joy of French and Indians alike. "'' 

He goes on to relate how the ''said Reverend Mothers" 
were conducted to their dwelling, belonging to one Noel Ju- 
chereau, Sieur de Ghatelets, and his associates, let to them by 
the "gentlemen of the Company of New France " till their con- 
vent should be built. He speaks of having seen the letters of 
obedience granted by the Archbishops of Rouen and of Tours, 
in which ample testimony is borne to their merits. He men- 
tions Madame de la Peltries zeal and devotedness, in giving her 
all to found a church and mission in the New World. We 
therefore, " by these presents " consented " by our power and 
authority that they (the Religious) establish themselves in this 
country of New France to keep and observe their religious rules 
and constitutions, " and labor for the conversion and education 
of the Indians. He gives them six arpents of land, within the 
city of Quebec " of the nature of woods, " and sixty more, also 
" of the nature of woods, M in Lower Town, so that they might 
clear these lands to build, and sow grain for their support. He 
declares that he was requested by the Religious to have this act 



MARIE DE L INCARNATION. 



signed byFathers Barthelemi Vimont, then superior of the Mis- 
sions of the Society cf Jesus, "who are the only ecclesiastics 
found in this country," and the Rev. Paul le Jeune, who pre- 
ceded him in this office. So the act was signed, at " Fort St. 
Louis de Quebec, '' this 28th diy of September, 1639." 

So, like a misty breath from the past, comes this document to 
us, in the practical, common-sense atmosphere of the nineteenth 
century. Old fashioned in phraseology, savoring of the by- 
gone in every line, we read it now ; and feel ourselves almost 
actors in that drama of two centuries ago. The dead and 
gone Religious, who came, with a flavor of Middle-Age hero- 
ism about them, to evangelize a continent ; the dead and gone 
sea-captain, who would long since have rested in the everlast- 
ing sleep of oblivion, but that in one of his voyages he brought 
over the said Reverend Mothers, Ursuline Religious ; the Ad- 
miral of the fleet of New France, no doubt once of note among 
his contemporaries ; the graceful and highborn Madame de la 
Peltrie ; the chivalric Charles Hualt de Montmagny, govern- 
ing for His Majesty of France, proud scion of a doomed mon- 
archy ; the noble and heroic Father le Jeune, who lived an 
apostle's life and died an apostle's death at the stake ; Father 
Barthelemi Vimont, Superior of the Missions of the Company 
of Jesus, leader, we should rather say of a valiant army, who 
met torture with a song of triumph on their lips, and death 
with a smile, to whom unfathomable wildernesses were as high 
roads, and distant settlements, raging torrents and unattainable 
trading-posts, as attractive as thoughts of home to the exile, 
who despised the fiercest cold of the Northern winter, who 
died to self, and lived only to apostolic work. All these names 
occurring here and there in the document bring their owners 
vividly before us, and the incidents, too. A house rented by 
the Company of New France, an institution gone into oblivion 
these two hundred years. And the 'document itself, given at 
" Fort St Louis de Quebec. *' Fort St. Louis, with its hundred 



144 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



memories of glory, with its sterns fights fought, its garrisons 
invincible, with heroes like Wolfe dying in sight of it, and the 
proudest hopes of chivalric France going dcwn into the grave 
with Louis de St. Veran ; with its mighty inspirations for grand 
poems; with all that has woven around the promontory of Que- 
bec, a wreath of glory destined to be imperishable. Let us 
bring the scene before us, on that occasion when this docu- 
ment was signed, the gray old fort, part of the life-work of 
Champlain, the river without and beneath, rapidly flowing, 
blue and shining; the quaint, half-settled town, walls and 
gates ; a room, rude and rough, — the warlike governor, a 
soldier of France ; around him officers in brilliant uniforms, 
citizens in the primitive costume of pioneers ; a little group of 
men, distinct from all the rest, in black gowns, with rosaries at 
their side and a crucifix in their belt ; Marie de Tlncarnation, 
her strong, calm face, and soft yet penetrating eyes ; beside her, 
her two companions, in the garb of St. Ursula, and Madame de 
la Peltrie, in her mourning weeds. Immortal gathering, among 
the many immortal ones that the walls of that ancient city wit- 
nessed. Why need we dwell upon it ; the historic interest, the 
romance, the beauty, the poetry, the strong, fiery hearts sub- 
dued, the inclinations conquered, ties broken, what a story, 
what a novel, or rather what an epic they make. 

But long before this 28th day of September, the newly ar- 
rived had gone to work. On the morrow of their arrival, both 
the Ursulines and Hospital Sisters went to Sillery, hard by the 
town, to visit some Algonquins who had been induced to settle 
there by the Missionaries. This Sillery was so called from its 
founder, M. de Sillery, sometime French ambassador to the 
Spanish and Papal Courts, and for a while Prime Minister to 
Leo III. He afterwards became a priest. This visit to Sillery 
on that August day, more than two hundred years ago, was in- 
deed a curious and interesting one. The savages, alarmed at 
first at the religious dress, were soon won by the gentleness 



MARIE DE LINCARNA TION. 



145 



and affability of the strange ladies, and became on very good 
terras with them before they left. The Jesuits were given oc- 
cupation at once. There were several Indian children to be 
baptized and Madame de la Peltrie was in many cases made 
godmother. 

The work of education began with six Indian girls, whom the 
Jesuit Fathers confided to the care of the Religious. Besides 
this they brought them all the French and Indian children 
whom they could procure, and the Ursuline Convent of Que- 
bec was, so to say, established. Of the dimensions of this 
building in the Lower Town, where this great house of educa- 
tion had its beginning, we find a description in the Ursuline 
records. 

" Our dwelling," says this ancient chronicle, " was so small 
that a room sixteen feet square served at once for choir, par- 
lor, cells and refectory ; and another little apartment was the 
class-room for the French and Indian children." They called 
this place their Louvre, and found happiness therein, because 
it contained, "the treasures they had come to seek, their dear 
neophytes." 

They had their chapel, sacristy and kitchen in a sort of gal- 
lery, which they added to the original structure. The chroni- 
cle describes one of the charms of their new life, as follows : 

"The dirtiness of the Indian girls, who were not yet trained 
to cleanliness like the French, caused us every day to find 
hair, coal or other filth in our soup pot, and sometimes an old 
shoe in the stew, which, however, did not disgust us much." 

As both Hurons and Algonquins preponderated in this 
region, the nuns were under the necessity of studying both lan- 
guages, a work of no small difficulty, as any one who considers 
what the Indian dialects are, may suppose. Mere de Tlncarna- 
tion- learned them with a facility which surprised every one, 
herself included. No doubt that, aided by the Holy Spirit, 
her facility came from the ardor of her desire to instruct the 



146 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



savages in the sacred truths of faith. Scarcely were they a year 
in the colony, when a terrible affliction befell them. The var- 
ious parts of the town were a prey to the ravages of small-pox. 
and soon it overtook the little Convent of the Ursulines. We 
quote a graphic description of the horrors to which the inmates 
were now subjected, shut up within so narrow limits with the 
victims of this fearful scourge, who were principally Indians. 

" Our little house/' says Marie de l'lncarnation, ; 'was 
changed into an hospital for the malady of the small pox, con- 
tracted by the Indian girls, who had it as many as three times, 
and of which four died. We all expected to be taken ill, not 
only because this disease is contagious, but because we were 
attending them day and night, and our narrow limits obliged 
us to be constantly all together. But Our Lord assisted us 
so much that none of us were inconvenienced. As we had no 
furniture yet, all the beds were on the floor, in such numbers 
that we were oblized to pass continually over the patients, 
but in this necessity, the Divine Majesty gave us so great cour- 
age, that none of us felt any disgust of the miseries and the 
filth of the Indians." 

When the disease at last took wing, the nuns were totally 
without linen, even that required for their costume having been 
used in dressing the sick. They began to fear very much, too, 
that the disease would deprive them of their scholars, for it was 
one of the superstitious ideas prevalent among the savages 
that all who were baptized must die. Their fears proved 
groundless, as we find from letters of the Venerable Mother 
written during this year of 1640. One is to a great lady in 
France, asking help for the Missions. Madame de la Peltrie, 
of course, supplied a portion of what was needed, but she was 
hampered by her relations in France, and meanwhile Marie de 
llncarnation gives a touching picture of the poverty of the Mis- 
sion. She says, however, that they have eighteen Indian 
boarders in the house, besides four more offered to them, and 



MARIE DE VINCARNATIOW 



147 



many externes or day scholars. She declares that if they had a 
building large enough to contain them, they would not want 
for pupils, and deplores their lack of means, which forces them 
to leave many Indians to perish. She said they had brought 
clothes enough to last two years, but on account of the sick- 
ness and all that transpired, they were worn out much quicker. 
The incoming winter seems to have made them very anxious, 
but from another letter we find that it passed off surprisingly 
well. The people of the town gave them whatever they could, 
in the way of vegetables and the like. 

" The air is excellent," says Marie, " so that it is a terres- 
trial paradise, where crosses and thorns grow so lovingly, that 
the more they prick one, the more one's heart is filled with 
sweetness." 

All this time, besides the Indian children who frequented the 
schools, and Indian women who came there for instruction, the 
men of the tribe resorted to the convent parlor, and obtained 
from the nuns the same lessons on the truths of faith as their 
female relations. Banquets were given at the Louvre, too, at 
which everything was fat and greasy, to satisfy the taste of the 
children of the forest. Mere de Tlncarnation thus describes one 
of these repasts : 

" To entertain some sixty or eighty of them sumptuously, 
we used about a bushel of dried plums, four six-pound loaves 
of bread, four measures of ground pease or Indian meal, a doz- 
en tallow candles, melted up, and two or three pounds of lard, 
that there might be plenty of fat, for that is what they like : this 
banquet, which serves them at once for meat and drink, is one 
of their most sumptuous repasts." 

She speaks of a certain young Agnes, who was a very skil- 
ful player on the viol, and who enlivened these festive occasions 
by music. 

Meanwhile the good religious had to do all the menial work 
of their little establishment themselves, having been unable as 



i 4 8 



WOMEN" OP CATHOLICITY. 



yet to find a lay-sister. A task which seems to human nature 
peculiarly repulsive, they all sought eagerly. This was the 
combing and washing of the Indian girls. Especially on 
their first arrival, this was an undertaking which it is better 
to leave to the imagination of our readers. Yet each one of 
the nuns craved permission to fulfil this office, and Madame de 
la Peltrie performed it oftener than any one else. Is it any won- 
der that Marie de lTncarnation, writing to her sisters in France, 
says : 

"To enter into the true spirit of a missioner to Canada, the 
soul must die to all things created ; on this point the Almighty 
Master is inexorable! Interior death is no doubt the sure road 
to life in God, but who can describe what it costs nature thus 
to die." 

Yet on the 7th of July, 1640, two more Ursulmes obtained 
permission to come out to join their sisters in the new world, 
Mother St. Athanasius, and Mother St. Clare. Their coming 
led to the building of the convent, which had been long in 
contemplation. In the interval Marie de l'lncarnation gives 
the following cheering account of the progress made among the 
savages in Quebec. This letter was dated September, 1641. 
It says : 

"We have our savage devotees here, as you have your 
polished ones in France; ours, it is true, are not so subtle and 
refined as yours, but they have a childish innocence which 
shows them to be souls, washed and regenerated in the blood 
of Jesus Christ. When I listen to our good Charles Montagnais, 
Michael, and Tek8erimat,* I would not leave the place to 
hear the best preacher in Europe. Michael said to me, a little 
while ago : 

u ' I do not live any longer only for beasts, as I used to do, 



* The figure 8 stood to express a (to foreigners) unpronounceable sound 
in Indian dialects. 



MARIE DE V1NCARNA TION. 



149 



nor for beaver skins. I live and I am for God. When I go to 
hunt, I say : ' great Captain Jesus, decide forme : even if you 
slop the beasts, so that they do not appear before me, 1 will al- 
ways hope in you. If you wish me to die of hunger, I will be 
content.'* " 

Marie de l'lncarnation remarks in one of her letters concern- 
ing their life at this time : 

( ' The { Relation' of 1641 will give you some idea of it, but 
in truth, if it were to tell you all, you would not believe it."' 

An extract taken from the f> Relation" of 1641 gives us indeed 
a remarkable insight into the state of affairs among the savages 
of the Mission. It is too long to give verbatim here. The 
writer is the Pere le Jeune. He begins by regretting that the 
want of means should hamper the good religious in the work 
they have to do. He declares that were they better lodged, they 
could not only accomodate numbers of Indian children, but 
receive women to make Retreats in preparation for their bap- 
tism. He gives many delightful details of the little " seminar- 
isles" as the Indian pupils are called. He relates that one of 
the Jesuit Fathers when at Tadoussac received a letter from 
two of the older Ursuline pupils. The good priest read it 
aloud to the savages, — it being written of course in their tongue, 
and represented to them the great advantage it was to their 
children to be able to write like the French. The savages 
were delighted ; they made the Father repeat over and 
over the message which it contained, and taking the letter in 
their hands, turned it round and round, expressing their joy that 
the paper of the French should speak their tongue. 

Father le Jeune also tells us that the little ones were in the 
habit of examining their consciences every night, and that they 
made their confessions with a clearness and accuracy which he 
had seldom found in civilized and educated people. He de- 
clares that he never saw joy so great as when the elder children 
were told that they would be allowed to make their first Com- 



I SO WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 

munion at Easter, One day, as he was giving instructions on 
the Holy Eucharist, an Indian child of six years old came to 
him, and asked that she might receive the Blessed Sacrament. 
He told her she was too little. 

" Ah, Father," said she, " do not send me away because I am 
little; you shall see, I will soon grow as big as my compan- 
ions." 

They did not of course admit her to first Communion, but 
they allowed her to listen to the instructions, which she heard 
with the greatest profit, so much so, that when some days after 
her mother came, she instructed her in this sacred truth, with 
wonderful clearness, and the poor squaw cried out : 

" Ah, if I had known God as soon as you knew Him ! J? 

Turning to the Sisters, she continued : 

" I am glad to see my child with you; when we take her away 
she will instruct her father and me ; we both wish much to be 
baptized, and she will teach us to pray to God I" 

Mother St. Clare, one of those who came from Paris in 1640, 
gives a charming picture of the joy and peace, that, despite all 
their privations, hardships and suffering, reigned in the little 
monastery. She says that in speaking to Mere de Y Incarna- 
tion, (< she breathed a certain air of sanctity, which embalmed 
everything." Among the pupils of the Ursulines, was the Hur- 
on, Teresa, who was quite a celebrated figure in the little 
world of the colony at that time, and who belonged to a 
family distinguished for zeal and piety. Her uncle and guard- 
ian, Joseph Chi8atenh8a, was considered among the Huron 
Saints, and Joseph Taoudechorin, another uncle, was also 
greatly revered as a man of exemplary life. While Teresa was 
still at the convent, and some thirteen or fourteen years of age, 
she gained a wonderful reputation among her countrymen, for 
eloquence in expounding the sacred truths, and her persuasive 
powers. Many of them came from the more distant settlements 
to spend the winter in Quebec, that they might hear her 



MARIE DE DINCA RXA TION. 



tongue of gold and, several were by her converted to the 
knowledge of God. On one occasion, a neophyte whom she 
had won to Christ, when on the very eve of baptism pretended 
to her, simply to test her faith, that he had lost his belief, and 
given up the idea of baptism. Teresa became greatly excited : 

" Wretch, '"'" she said to him, " what would you do ? Do you 
want to go to hell with the devils ? Perhaps you will die to- 
night, and find yourself with them at dawn. Ah ! the devil 
has turned your head." As the man was apparently deaf to her re- 
proaches, Teresa sobbing bitterly, went to Mere de l'Incarnation, 
telling her all, and adding that but for the grating between them, 
she would have beaten the renegade. 

It was long before she could be convinced that the man was 
only trying her. Soon after leaving the convent, Teresa had to 
pass through a terrible ordeal. Together with her uncle Taou- 
dechorin, and Father Jogues, the Jesuit, she was taken prisoner, 
and carried to a distant Iroquois village, where she was detained 
two years. There, as may be supposed, she had a great deal to 
suffer, but her uncle, who managed to escape, brought to 
Quebec and to Marie de l'Incarnation the news that Teresa 
was bravely confessing her faith among these ferocious enemies 
of her race, and practising as far as might be her religious 
duties. Through the efforts of Marie de l'Incarnation and the 
other Ursulines, the Governor. M. de Montmagny, finally pro- 
cured her release. The memory of Teresa, a shining light 
among the earliest of Ursuline pupils, is still kept green in even- 
house of the order. So many and varied are the incidents re- 
lated of these Indian neophytes, that they would make in them- 
selves an interesting volume. Meanwhile, the religious con- 
tinued their work within the same narrow limits as we have 
before seen. The only means by which they were enabled to 
accomodate their boarders, was by erecting small compartments, 
like berths in ships, to the top ones of which they climbed by a 
ladder. 



152 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



Their gayety, their courage, their heroic cheerfulness, under 
such circumstances, excites the wonder even of the Jesuit mis- 
sionaries, men who, in truth, were not to be amazed by any 
privations. How should they, when they themselves had ex- 
perienced every kind i" 

In the "Relation'' of 164 1, Father Vimont says ; 

" When we see young and delicate women shut up in their 
house, on the banks of our great river St. Lawrence, sharing 
all the labors of the establishment, with an unparalleled gayety; 
when I beheld a lady, separated by thousands of league- from 
her country, giving her life and her goods for the salvation of 
these barbarians, preferring a roof of bark to azure tapestries, 
taking more pleasure in conversing with savages than in visit- 
ing the great people of the court; when I contemplate a young 
lady, to whom a breath of wind would in France have given a 
cold, crossing the ocean and braving our long winters, and that 
to speak words of truth to a poor savage ; no, I cannot doubt 
that God, who began the great work of the conversion of these 
tribes, will deign to finish it, despite all the obstacles with which 
we must meet." 

Yet these first Ursulines at Quebec were often heard to say 
that the only fault they had to find with Canada was that they 
had not enough to suffer. Soon, very soon, having built a little 
wooden chapel beside their dwelling, they had the consolation 
of hearing Mass every morning, and having the Blessed Sacra- 
ment under their roof. At last, in the spring of 1641, a begin- 
ning was made towards the new monastery, which was to stand 
in Upper Town, on the site where the Ursuline convent stands to- 
day, a witness of truth for two centuries and a half. The begin- 
ning was made in spite of every obstacle that want of means and 
poverty of resources could occasion. For it must be remembered 
that Quebec then consisted of a few straggling edifices, a fort, a 
church, some dwellings. And the colonists, in constant terror 
of their Indian neighbors, and at constant warfare with the 



MARIE DE V INCARNATION. 



*53 



Iroquois, were at the same time deprived of all but the most 
necessary means of sustenance. They had little to spare, in 
money or provisions, for works of charity or public utility. 
Their own life was one of hard, stern necessity, grasping want, 
small comfort and little luxury. A hand to mouth existence, 
where only energy, daring and the most resolute endurance 
could enable men to live. Therefore it was simply confidence 
in God that could have made Marie de lTncarnation entertain 
for a single instant such a project as the building of a convent in 
the wilderness. In the course of the narrative we shall see that 
pecuniary aid and divers offers of assistance flowed in upon 
them. But Mere de l'lncarnation, a wise woman in her gen- 
eration, foresaw a difficulty which had to be overcome before an 
Ursuline community could be permanently settled in Quebec. 
Dwelling upon Marie Guyart as a saint, we have perhaps not 
laid sufficient stress upon the qualities which always raised her 
far above her surroundings. Madame Suetchine remarks that 
e< it is only in heaven angels have as much ability as demons. " 
To this generality, fallacious no doubt, Marie de lTncarnation 
offers a striking exception. Had she been placed in any cir- 
cumstances, a woman of the world, governing a large estab- 
lishment, reconciling numerous conflicting interests, battling in 
that hand to hand contest with the world, wherein many a 
woman of superior intellect wastes her energies, Marie Guyart 
would have been remarkable, towering above her kind, alone 
and unapproached. Or discarding all religion, she might have 
been an esprit fort born to control thousands. Her intellect 
was of a high order; her perception keen and acute; her under- 
standing solid and logical. In a word, she was gifted with the 
rare combination of genius with common sense. She readily 
comprehended difficult situations, and sought their remedy. 
Her practical and imaginative mind united rare tact with 
calmness, moderation and self-control. A tender grace of 
manner, a genial kindliness, a winning gentleness, which never 



*54 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



failed to influence all who approached her, were added to these 
intellectual gifts. Her wonderfully expressive face, womanly 
yet strong, beautiful with a beauty that had little to do with 
earth, grave and gentle, tender and serious, no one ever looked 
upon Marie de lTncarnation without a feeling of mingled rev- 
erence and sympathy. This heroine of charity had all the 
qualities which fiction would fain give to its characters, and 
they carried her to heights where only the elect of God can 
tread. .Uncommon as her natural gifts were, they could never 
in real life have been carried to such perfection, but by the in- 
fluence of grace, and of the love of God. Marie Guyart was 
a true heroine, because she was a true Christian, a saint. 

To return to the project, which the Venerable Mother now 
began to entertain, and which it required all her delicate tact 
and rare judgment to carry into execution. It was the merging 
of the various congregations of Ursulines into one, to be there- 
after known as the Ursulines of Quebec. In the small com- 
munity of five, there were three of Bordeaux and two of Paris, 
between whom there were some slight differences of rule and 
costume. Moreover, candidates from divers cities of France 
were constantly offering themselves for the Canadian Mission. 
So that various elements would have been introduced into the 
little congregation at Quebec. After weighing the matter well, 
Mere de ITncarnation proffered a few resolutions, bearing upon 
the points at issue, which from their wisdom, moderation, and 
delicacy, were at once accepted by all the branches of the 
Order. One related to the vow of education, which the Ursu- 
lines of Bordeaux now added to their three primary vows, like 
those of Paris; the second to the dress, the Ursulines from Paris 
assuming that of the Ursulines from Bordeaux. All were to be 
at liberty, on returning to France, to abide by the special rules 
of their own particular monastery. These and other points 
having been settled, the Ursulines of Quebec, established upon 
a permanent basis, devoted themselves to lives of marvellous 



MARIE DE L INCARNATION. 



1 55 



sanctity. Dom Claude Martin, it is anticipating here to relate, 
how Marie de Tlncarnations son became at last a Benedictine, 
and leading a life of great perfection, lived to write his mother's 
biography. This Dom Martin says of these first Ursulines of 
Quebec • "These chosen souls who had left all for God, observed 
every point of their rule so exactly, and with such fervor, that 
they might be compared to the first Benedictines, and Domini- 
cans, under their founders; communities which have served as 
an example to the holiest congregations in all succeeding ages." 
On the 12th of June, 1642, Mere de Tlncarnation was canonically 
re-elected Superior. After that there were various charges and 
adaptations made in the constitution of the Order, till in 1681, 
they finally adopted that of the congregation of Paris. 

The work at the "Louvre" meanwhile progressed wonder- 
fully. The Indians, men, women and children, became daily 
more attached to their benefactresses. In times of want or 
distress they always sought their good Mothers. It was, of- 
ten, extremely inconvenient for the religious to supply them 
with food, when the proud warriors of the forest beheld the 
gaunt features of famine at their wigwam door, and w r ere driven 
by want to confess their needs. The charity of Mere de lln- 
carnation and her sisters was boundless. It inspired them to 
meet all demands. For the next seven years, Marie de lTn- 
carnation endured the most intense anguish from spiritual suf- 
ferings. She bore them with her wonted fortitude, and offered 
them for the salvation of two persons. Her son, and a niece, 
whom she had dearly loved. Nor was her offering unavailable. 
We have seen her prayer answered with regard to her son. Her 
niece, then leading a rather worldly life, became a religious. 
But the intensity of the Venerable Mother's sufferings at this 
time can scarcely be estimated. She saw even the most trifling 
inperfections of her life magnified tenfold as at the judgment- 
seat, and they almost drove her to despair. But she never 
omitted the slightest duty, and took her share in menial work, 



156 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



as she haa been in the habit of doing heretofore. A great 
grief to her, also, was the departure of Madame de la Peltrie 
for Montreal, where the latter thought of founding a mission 
for the conversion of the savages. This departure was a two- 
fold loss to the Ursulines, her pecuniary assistance, and her 
presence, counsel and support. Fortunately it was only tem- 
porary. It was during her absence that the Ursulines took 
possession of their new monastery, which had all this time 
been in process of erection. The day before that memorable 
Feast of the Presentation of Our Lady, 1642, the nuns kept a 
strict fast. But the morning of the festival dawned, and the 
procession climbed the steep height into Upper Town. There 
were the Ursulines in their religious habit, the Indians in such 
costumes as the poverty of their benefactors had been enabled 
to provide for them ; the Jesuits, Fathers Vimont and Faulx, 
the latter chaplain to the Congregation. It was a touching 
sight. On their arrival at the new convent, grand Mass was 
sung, and such thanksgiving went up as rarely ascends from 
earth to heaven. Yet that winter of 1642-43, was the hard- 
est the community ever knew. The cold and other hardships 
that they had to endure were almost incredible, though the 
Indian children, rejoiced that they were to live in ''so large a 
wigwam/'' fairly danced with delight. Marie de Tlncarnation 
gives the following account of their accomodations. "Our 
chimney was at the end to heat the dormitory and the cells, 
which were divided by a partition of pine-wood ; and do not 
think that we can live long there without approaching the 
fire. We could not remain thus an hour, but still the hands 
must be hidden and well-covered. Besides the exer- 
cises, the ordinary place to read, write and study, is 
of necessity near the fire. Our beds are of wood and 
close up like cupboards, and although they are lined 
with quilts or serge, we can scarcely keep warm. In four fire- 
places we burn 175 cords of wood during the year. But al- 



MARIE DE V INCARNATION. 



l 57 



though the cold is very great, we have gone to the choir all 
winter, though we suffer a little there/' The monastery was 
of stone, 92 feet in length, and twenty-eight in width. It was 
the largest and handsomest building then in Canada. It was 
not until 1648 that the community received its first Canadian 
recruit — a lay-sister known as Sister Catherine of St. Ursula. 
Gertrude de Boulogne, a sister of Madame d'Ailleboust, wife of 
the third Governor of Quebec, was also received into the Order 
this year. The first novice, after the arrival in Canada, was 
Charlotte Barre, who had accompanied Madame de la Peltrie 
from France; she took the name of St. Ignace. She also made 
her final vows in 1648. But we anticipate. The congregation 
had, indeed, need of all possible reinforcement. The number 
of Indian pupils was now eighty, and there were a good many 
French besides. The Indian pupils were not only taught 
free and boarded free, but their clothing was also provided by 
the teachers. So that what with the costs of building, and the 
ordinary expenses of the establishment, it seems little short of 
miraculous, that the Ursulines should have passed through 
this ordeal. The burden rested chiefly on Marie de l'lncarna- 
tion, who had besides having all along superintended the 
building operations, and directed the workmen, had governed 
the house, performed her share of manual labor, taught and beg- 
ged alms for their enterprises. She wrote as many as two hun- 
dred letters in a short space of time, to people in France, 
asking their assistance. She says in one place : " My hand is 
so tired that I can scarcely hold the pen. But so it is that we 
must pass our time, waiting for the great eternity which will 
never pass." That winter, as we have said, the community had 
everything to suffer from cold and poverty. Marie de Flncarna- 
tion had besides to bear the sharper interior trials, of which we 
have spoken. In the autumn of 1643, however, Madame de 
la Peltrie returned, never to leave them again. Soon after- 
wards, she had a house built hard by the convent, on the 



i 5 8 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



ground originally granted to her. This two story stone house 
soon became and has ever since remained a tradition among 
the Ursulines. As we shall see, it occupied an important place 
in their history. In 1643, some new religious came from 
France, Mother Anne of the Seraphim, Mother Anne of St. 
Cecilia, and Anne of Our Lady from Tours. In 1645 Mother 
St. Athanasius was made Superior, to the great relief of Marie 
de Tlncarnation; henceforth she devoted her time mainly to the 
instruction of the Indians. This was her work of predilection. 
In one of her letters, she says : " The happiness which I ex- 
perience in teaching a poor savage to know God is a solace 
in pain, and a refreshment in weariness.'' About this time, 
she made a special vow, " to do, to say, and to think, always 
and at all times, what she believed to be for the greater glory 
of God." The year 1649 was marked in the history of Canada 
by a terrible episode. The Iroquois poured like a torrent upon 
the various villages of converted Indians, and almost extermi- 
nated the Hurons. The scattered remnant of this latter tribe 
came to Quebec, where they were new objects of charity for the 
Ursulines. Some of them were, however, received into the 
Iroquois nations, as equal members, and not only kept their 
faith, but in many cases converted their conquerors. It was 
during this massacre that Fathers Lallemant and Breboeuf suf- 
fered martyrdom, with a refinement of cruelty too painful for 
contemplation. 

A devotion which was, perhaps, most cherished of all in 
the Ursuline community, and amongst its pupils, was that to 
the Blessed Virgin. The Indian pupils early learned to regard 
her with a deep and very real love, as if she had been, indeed, 
their mother. The whole city of Quebec seemed, at this time, 
to have been imbued with like sentiments. Marie de Tlncarna- 
tion herself describes a procession in honor of Our Lady, in 
which all the principal inhabitants of the place joined. She 
declared herself much edified by the pious demeanor of the 



MARIE DE V1NCARNA TION. 



159 



participants on this occasion, particularly the Indians. On the 
Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady, Sept. 8th, 1650, the bells of 
the monastery rang out joyously. Religious and pupils as- 
sembled in the chapel. Mary was chosen first and chief Su- 
perior. The Mother Superior laid the keys of the monastery 
before the statue, and read an address, in which she relegated 
her office to the Blessed Virgin. Each religious then advanced 
to kiss the feet of the statue, and a Te Deum was sung. For 
more than two centuries and a quarter, this pious ceremony 
has been repeated every year. 

This year of 1650 was a sadly memorable one to the Ursuline 
congregation of Quebec. On the 30th of December, Mere Sister 
Seraphim, who slept in the dormitory with the pupils, was 
awakened by the crackling of flames. She arose, woke the 
children, and rushed into the community to awake the relig- 
ious. The whole lower part of the house was in flames. The 
nuns thought at first of saving some of their clothing, but 
Marie de Tlncarnation, quickly perceiving the extent of the 
danger, bade them leave everything and fly. This admirable 
women never lost her self-possession for an instant. She was 
calm, unruffled, displaying no trace of alarm or regret The 
religious, now, at the imminent peril of their lives, rushed into 
the upper dormitories, to save the little children. The elder 
ones had already found means of escape. On they went, in- 
spired by their heroic charity, forcing their way through the 
flames, the fragile, almost dying Mere St. Joseph breaking 
down the grating to leave the passage free. Every religious 
carried a child in her arms. When ail were saved, they stood 
without under the venerable ash-tree dear to the Ursuline heart. 
Mere St. Athanasius, who had reached there first, finding that the 
others delayed in coming, knelt on the frozen ground, and 
made a vow to Mary Immaculate, if she would save the Sisters. 
Barefooted and half-clad, the little group, one after another, 
assembled, perceived with a thrill of horror that Marie de Tin- 



1 60 WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 

carnation was missing. She was still within the burning-pile, 
making a heroic effort to save some important papers. All at 
once she appeared at one of the higher windows, surrounded 
by flames on all sides. Her face and attitude were calm and 
undisturbed. Again she disappeared. She had to descend 
through flames, and to make her way out under the bell, which 
was pouring down streams of molten metal. She passed 
through every danger unhurt and presently emerged to join 
the anxious group under the tree, with the same mien she 
would have joined them at prayer before the Tabernacle. It 
was a weird scene. The nuns standing under those spreading 
branches, with the dusk-skinned savages clinging to them, and 
gazing with horrible fascination at the flames, while the fire 
blazing higher and higher, made lurid the sky of Quebec, 
threatened the fort and falling upon the snow, increased 
tenfold by contrast its whiteness. Nuns and children now 
prostrated themselves in thanksgiving. The people watched 
them in astonishment. Never had misfortune seemed so like 
happiness. Some present cried out that either these holy 
women were fools, or that they loved God with inconceivable 
love. All the men of the town, including the Jesuit Fathers, 
who were strenuous in their exertions, made every effort to save 
the doomed building, or at least some portion of the effects. 
Marie de Tlncarnation declares that the Jesuits risked their lives 
many times that night to help them. This chapter of the fire 
is an uninterrupted one throughout of beautiful and almost in- 
appreciable heroism. In the sublimest heights of fraternal 
charity, one outdid the other, Jesuits and Ursulines and Hos- 
pital Nuns. Nor were instances of bravery and devotedness want- 
ing among the laity. We know of nothing finer, in a still 
higher order cf charity, than the offering of Marie de Tlncar- 
nation. Still in the midst of flames, before leaving the burning 
monastery, she bowed her head, and made the complete sacrifice 
of everything to God. Those hardly earned goods and provi- 



MARIE BE E INCARNATION. l6l 

sions, that noble building into which a part of her own life had 
passed, all relinquished in a moment, and with cheerfulness. 
She declares that she never feit peace more perfect, nor union 
with God more undisturbed, than on that awful night of De- 
cember 30th, 1650. The Superior of the Jesuits, having found 
an asylum for the children, brought the religious to the Jesuit 
House, till they had been provided with shoes, when he was 
about to take them to the fort. But the hospital Sisters sent 
word that the Ursulines must come to them, and when they 
went, needless to say that they met with a cordial welcome. 
They were clothed, fed, and lodged for three weeks. On the 
day following the conflagration, a touching incident occurred. 
The Huron chiefs came to present an address of sympathy to 
the sufferers. They had been themselves deprived of everything. 
They brought the last of their treasures, two wampum belts, to 
the nuns, and they had to hold a council, before they could 
decide whether or no it was prudent to give these. 

The following address was made by Taicaronk, Grand Chief 
of the Hurons: 

" You behold in your presence holy virgins, the poor rem- 
nants of a once flourishing, but now a fallen nation. The 
Hurons are no more. The country of the Hurons has been 
gnawed to the bone by war and famine. The wretched sur- 
vivors have been enabled to live through you alone. You have 
been told in letters, and now you see for yourselves, the misery 
to which we are reduced. Behold us on all sides and see, re- 
flect if we be not impelled to weep over ourselves and to shed 
ceaseless torrents of tears. Alas 1 the misfortune that has be- 
fallen you must strike us too, and cause our half-dried tears to 
flow once more. To have seen that beautiful house of Jesus 
burn ; that dwelling of charity reduced to ashes ; the fire 
reigning there, and respecting not even your persons, holy 
virgins, who inhabited it. All this awakens the memory of 
the universal fire which consumed our wigwams, our villages 



162 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



and our whole country. Must fire, then, pursue us every- 
where. Let us weep, then, dear countrymen, let us weep for 
woes, which lately altogether our own, we new share with 
these innocent ladies. Holy virgins behold you now reduced 
to the same misery as your poor Hurons, for whom you have 
had so tender a compassion. Behold you are now without 
country or home, without provisions or help of any kind, save 
that of the Heaven, upon which your eyes are ever fixed. We 
have come thither to offer you our consolation, and before en- 
tering here, we have gone down into the depths of your hearts, 
to discover what most afflicts you in this terrible calamity, that 
we might strive to remedy it. Were you people of our nation 
we would offer you a present to dry your tears, and to revive 
your courage. We have seen that you are not discouraged at 
sight of your dwelling in ruins, and none of us have witnessed 
a single tear wept by you over this misfortune. Your hearts 
are not cast down by the loss of earthly things, for we know 
that they are raised too high in a desire for the goods of 
Heaven/' 

The address went on to say that the Hurons' only fear was 
lest the calamity might drive the religious from their shores, 
and with the simplicity of their nation, they say that to avert 
such a loss, they had brought the two wampum belts, that this 
offering might enable them to rebuild the House of Jesus. 
The Ursulines remained three weeks at the Hotel Dieu and 
departed laden with gifts, such as five hundred pounds of pro- 
visions to enable them to live. At this time a sort of spirit- 
ual engagement was drawn up between the communities, giving 
each a share in the prayers and good works of the other, both 
before and after death. The next era in the lives of the first 
Ursulines in Quebec, was that of their sojourn in the house 
built by Madame de la Peltrie, which we have before described. 
In these narrow limits, the heroic religious were to begin again 
their work of zeal. To make room for their community of 



MARIE DE LINCAKXA TION. 



163 



thirteen, besides their numerous pupils. To find place for 
dormitories and refectory, and kitchen and parlor and class-rooms 
and chapels in this one little building. But they managed it, 
somehow, and strove to keep their flock inviolate. The Hos- 
pital Nuns did everthing in their power for them. The Jesuit 
Fathers,* in Marie de lTncarnation's own words, "aided us in 
every hospitable way ; even sending us cloth which they had in 
reserve for clothing. They gave us besides provisions, linen, 
quilts, besides day's work of the lay-brothers and servants/' The 
people of the town were not behindhand. Many rare in- 
stances of charity are recorded of all classes of the colonists, from 
the governor down. That spring the vessels were unusually 
late in arriving, and as the news of the disaster had not reached 
France, at the time of their sailing, they brought merely the 
ordinary help. But the Ursulines possessed a little farm, which 
had hitherto been utterly unprofitable. Their chaplain, M. 
Vignal, inspired by his charity and compassion, resolved to 
cultivate this farm for them and not only brought his servants 
thither, but actually worked there himself, so that the ground 
began to yield abundance, and did much to relieve the neces- 
sities of the Ursulines, Yet many people began to think that 
this disaster seemed to indicate that it was the will of God for 
the community to return to France. But the Venerable Mother, 
" the soul of all the enterprises and whose courage rose above all 
events, combated such an idea from the first." She said she had 
"an extreme aversion to returning to France, and felt a greater 
love than ever for her vocation." Meantime, while the Ursulines 
were awaiting farther manifestations of the will of God, it was 
necessary to arrive at some decision. Marie de lTncarnation 



* The following resolution was passed by the Jesuits, on the 2d of Jan- 
uary, 1651: Unanimi omnium Patrum consensu imo et fratrum, to deprive 
ourselves of our deserts to help these good religious, who have more 
need of such luxuries than we. 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



writes : " I had an interior instinct that the whole burden would 
fall upon my shoulders, that 1 must begin all over again, and 
I felt a natural apprehension, which I dared not declare for 
fear of opposing the will of God." Measures were now taken 
by the Jesuits, the governor, and other friends of the institution, 
to enable the Ursulines to build again. Money was loaned to 
them on advantageous terms, and in fine, on the 19th of May, 
165 1, Madame de la Peltrie laid the corner-stone of the new 
edifice. In fact, once the arrangements had been made the Vener- 
able Mother set to work with " superhuman energy." She 
herself began to clear away the debris from the ruins, the other 
religious followed her example, and many pious seculars joined 
in the good work. After the laying of the corner-stone, the 
building progressed very rapidly. Meanwhile, as the weather 
had grown mild again, nature provided the devoted religious 
with class rooms to carry on their work of instruction Never 
was fairer picture painted by artist. In those green shaded 
walls, bordering on what was then the Grande Allee, now St. 
Louis Road, hard by a winding stream, the valiant little band 
of women collected their scattered neophytes. Underneath that 
venerable "Ash" so famous in the convent traditions, Marie de 
Tlncarnation sat surrounded by the tawny children of* the for- 
est. Close at hand, shaded by a walnut tree, Mother St. Athanasius, 
with her group of Canadian daughters of the first colonists. 
Farther on, a cluster of wigwams, built here that the neophytes, 
adults as well as children, might find a shelter, and pursue un- 
interrupted their lessons in the science of God. The sun of 
morning looked down upon this scene and twilight stole gen- 
tly along those green by-paths, and the stream, and the new 
monastery, rising within sight, up from its own ashes. But 
Mere de Tlncarnation had heavy, burdensome work on hand 
besides. She had to go over again all her old labor, and watch 
stone by stone the gradual erection of that new home, and beg 
dollar by dollar the money which was to pay for it, toil, anx- 



MARIE DE V INCARNATION. 



165 



iety, strain, — the work of education was but child's play to 
this. Expenses grew. The exterior alone cost more than 
twenty thousand dollars. The community had received a loan 
of eight thousand. Madame de la Peltrie did not aid them, 
pecuniarily, being anxious at that time to build a church. It 
was on occasions like this that Marie de l'lncarnation's true 
greatness of soul shone out with peculiar lustre. But space 
forbids our following her through all those weary, anxious, toil- 
some hours. One last trial awaited her and her sisters, before 
they took possession of that new home of theirs, which was to 
them as a Promised Land. This was the death of Mere St. 
Joseph, one of the original number who had come together 
from France. She died on the 2d of February, Feast of the 
Purification, 1652. It is no exaggeration to say that the 
character of this religious was purely angelic. No more beau- 
tiful life ever adorned the pages of any chronicle. 

On the eve of Pentecost, May 29th, 1653, the clergy and a 
vast concourse of people transported the Blessed Sacrament 
from the house of Madame de la Peltrie to the new monastery. 
The Forty Hours was begun and joy and thanksgiving reigned 
supreme. During the period of construction, the Venerable 
Mother dwells upon the special protection vouchsafed to her 
by the Mother of God. She declares that the Blessed Virgin's 
sensible protection was never absent from her. She felt cer- 
tain that the Queen of Heaven accompanied her in all "her 
comings and goings," and she even recommended the work- 
men to her care, effectually, too, as not one was hurt during 
the progress of the work. It was the same with the liquida- 
tion of the great debt. Marie de Y Incarnation proves by fig- 
ures that it was purely providential. Yet the new building 
was larger, better, more commodious than the old. In eigh- 
teen months from the time of the fire, the Ursulines were es- 
tablished again under improved circumstances, with more pu- 
pils, more friends, more courage — if that were possible — for 



i66 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



their work. And their wonderful surmounting of obstacles in- 
spired the whole colony. Had the Ursulines left the colony, 
discouraged, it is hard to tell what the moral effect might have 
been on the fortitude of the settlers. From this time forth, 
once peace was declared for the moment, with the Iroquois, 
Marie de lTncarnation gives us the most encouraging account 
of their school. She describes the examination of the Indian 
children, in presence of the Iroquois ambassadors. The latter 
were charmed to hear the little savages sing in three languages; 
many of them could also read and write in French, Latin and 
Indian. It was during these years, as, indeed, had happened 
before, that bread was miraculously multiplied in the hands of 
the Venerable Mother, enabling her to provide for numbers of 
poor savages. 

The June of 1659 was marked by the arrival of Mgr. de 
Laval, an event of the greatest importance to Canada in general 
and to the Ursuline Community in particular. Marie de lTn- 
carnation herself records his advent, and pays him a high trib- 
ute, which time has proved to have been fully merited. The 
history of the monastery during all these years isfull of interest, 
the various workings of early colonial history, the regime of one 
governor after another, the episcopate of that ever memorable 
Bishop, in a word all that many colored fabric of stirring events 
with which the Ursuline community was interwoven. The year 
1660 deserves an especial mention. It was then that rumors, too 
sadly confirmed, reached Quebec that the Iroquois had assem- 
bled in great numbers at Three Rivers, and were determined to 
fall upon Quebec and Montreal, exterminate the whites and 
their Indian allies, and regain possession of the soil. Terror 
reigned supreme in Quebec. The Blessed Sacrament was ex- 
posed, and special prayers were offered up to the Blessed Vir- 
gin. The Bishop obliged the Ursulines and other religious of 
the town to leave their monastery, and take up their abode at 
the Jesuits', which was the best calculated for defence. The 



MARIE DE UINCARNA TIOX. 



167 



Blessed Sacrament was carried in solemn procession to the 
Jesuit Church, all the townspeople following, with terror in 
their hearts. For it alarmed them to see that the Ursulines 
were compelled to leave their monastery. Marie de l'lncarna- 
tion and three other religious were permitted to remain there, 
although it was in a state of siege, every entrance being guarded. 
Besides the twenty-four men which composed its garrison, the 
Venerable Mother tells us that there were twelve great dogs 
stationed at the outposts, of which the Indians were more afraid 
even than of the men. However, through the heroism of Dan- 
lac and his associates, elsewhere recorded, Quebec was saved, 
and after many anxious days and nights, the colony and the 
community returned to its ordinary routine. 

The year 1663 was marked by a fearful convulsion of nature. 
On the 5th of February, about five in the afternoon, all was pre- 
ternaturally calm and still. Of a sudden a noise was heard 
like the rumbling of many carriages, followed by a confusion of 
waves sounding under the earth and all about, while a shower 
of stones fell upon the roofs or came through the windows. 
Clouds of dust obscured the atmosphere. Doors flew open of 
themselves, or closed with a loud report. Bells rang of them- 
selves, clocks struck, and houses and steeples shook like trees 
in a storm Meanwhile furniture was thrown about, stones 
came through the air, beams were torn off, walls were rent 
asunder, animals howled, rushing in and out of the houses in 
wild alarm. Xor were the people less terrified: some rushed 
into the middle of the street, lest the houses crumbling into 
ruins should bury them, others shut themselves in between four 
walls lest in a second convulsion, they should be swallowed up. 
In the monastery, the common impulse was to hasten to the 
presence of Jesus. At eight o'clock the same evening, a second 
shock occurred. The nuns were in the chapel reciting part of 
their office standing. The shock prostrated most of them on 
the ground. The Miserere was recited, and new fasts ordained 



1 68 WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 

in the community, that God might spare his people, and in 
reparation for whatever sins had drawn down this visitation. In 
fact, the colony had for a year or two been drawn into divers 
excesses, and drunkenness prevailed to a great extent, especially 
among the Indians. Marie de lTncarnation now begged of 
God to lay upon her shoulders all the burden of iniquities that 
she might repair the same, and obtain pardon for the guilty. 
She declares that she would have been willingly accused of all 
these crimes in the eyes of men if by doing so she could have 
propitiated the offended Majesty of God. 

A more pleasing incident is the celebration of the Feast of St. 
Joseph at the monastery. The account of the festival is truly 
delightful. Nothing was left undone to honor that holy patron 
of Canada. The Venerable Mother instituted a few years be- 
fore what was called the Treasure of St. Joseph, and was real- 
ly a sum, received by dowries with novices, or from boarding- 
pupils, to be reserved for the relief of the poor, so that in ad- 
verse circumstances the monastery might never be obliged to 
give up its works of charity. In 1664, the Congregation of 
the Holy Family was instituted. The men were under the 
charge of the Jesuits, and the girls under that of the Ursulines. 
This association tended much to the promotion of piety and 
religion in the settlement. Though, in part, since the earth- 
quake, there had been a marked reformation in the primitive 
society. 

Short as is our space, we cannot pass over in silence the ad- 
vent of the Marquis de Tracy, one of the most distinguished 
men whom the mother country ever sent out to her colony. 
Acting as Viceroy and Lieutenant-general for the king, he dis- 
played the courage, the wisdom and the energy of a true sol- 
dier in his campaigns against the Iroquois, and the best quali- 
ties of a statesman in his connection with the French Canadian 
settlers. His administration, and the coming of the famous 
Carignan regiment, make this period one of the most brilliant 



MARIE DE L' INCARNATION 



169 



in the history of Quebec. Brilliant uniforms enlivened the 
hitherto almost pastoral quietude of the Grande Allee and St. 
Foye road ; bands played in the streets, and gay banners 
were ever and anon displayed. There is a description of the 
Marquis de Tracy and his principal officers visiting Mere de 
Tlncarnation, after their return from one of their chief expedi- 
tions. She was emphatically the polar star of the Quebec of 
that day, and due honor was paid to her by foreign representa- 
tives no less than by the citizens. The reception of M. 
de Tracy on his arrival in the town was quite imposing, and 
the chateau St. Louis, the churches, and religious institutions, 
encircled by the scattered dwelling houses, and here and there 
a wigwam, took on their best aspect to salute the envoy of the 
king. M. de Tracy went straight to the church, and was met 
at the door by the Bishop and clergy, who offered him holy 
water and the crucifix to kiss, according to immemorial cus- 
tom. Ah, what a pageant it was ! In the following year, 1666, 
Mere de Tlncarnation gives us an account of another, alto- 
gether religious. This was the translation of relics, which had 
been given to the infant Church of Canada. She says nothing 
so fine was ever seen before in the settlement. The occasion 
was celebrated with the greatest pomp. Forty-seven ecclesias- 
tics walked in full robes. The dais over the relics was borne 
by M. de Tracy, M. de Councelles, Governor, M. Talon, Inten- 
dant, and M. C. Barrois, Agent for the company of New 
France. Amid several discharges of artillery, the procession 
proceeded from shrine to shrine, at each stopping-place offering 
music and flowers, till they reached their destination. One of 
these shrines was at the chapel of the Chateau St. Louis. 

Marie de Tlncarnation in one of her letters pays a high tribute 
to M. de Tracy. Having spoken of the honor in which he 
was held by the king, who sent a ship of war to bring him to 
France, she declares that he was a man of exalted piety. She 
said he had been known to spend six whole hours at a time in 



170 WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 

the church, and by his example alone did wonders for u*3 
cause of religion in Canada. He was a special friend of the 
Ursulines ; in April, 1666, he laid the first stone of their chapel, 
dedicated to St. Anne, the whole expenses of which he paid, 
that is, two thousand five hundred pounds, the cost of the 
building. After his return to France, he caused the yearly 
grant of 300 pounds to be increased to five. M. de Cour- 
celles, the Governor, who remained after M. de Tracy, was 
a man no less religious, no less enlightened, and no less a 
friend of the Ursulines. M. Talon, the Intendant, who did so 
much for Canada, was always well known and for many reasons 
beloved at the monastery. A word here of the famous Gara- 
konthie, called : "the Bayard of the savages.' 7 He was, indeed, 
after his conversion, a true Christian hero, and a faithful ally of 
the whites. His baptism at the Cathedral, in 1670, by Mgr. de 
Laval, was witnessed by a great number of persons, including 
people- of all nationalities. We have made mention of him 
here because he was a constant friend of the Ursuline commu- 
nity, and of the Venerable Mother in particular. In one of 
his visits to the convent, the latter presented him with a richly 
embroidered belt or scarf worked by the young religious, as a 
testimony of esteem for the chiefs honesty, and the magnanimity 
of his conduct towards the French He valued this very high- 
ly, and carried it everywhere with him. 

Among the touching practices of piety which belong to the 
Ursulines of that day, but are still kept up in the community, 
and besides that of the Infant Jesus, which was especially theirs, 
was the vow to the Blessed Virgin, to honor her Immaculate 
Conception, by special Masses, Communions, Rosaries, and by 
fasting on the eve of that festival, to obtain the conversion of 
the Indians, and the preservation of Canada. Who can tell 
what blessings have accrued to the country from this pious 
custom, which is yet unknown to the majority of its inhabitants ? 
Another was for each religious to draw out the name of one 



MARIE DE L* INCARNATION 



171 



of the nations of North America. To this nation then all her 
prayers, good works, and sacrifices were particularly applied, 
to obtain its conversion. But as the chronicle remarks, 
" Though Mere de lTncarnation had her special nation, hei 
great heart did not limit itself to one. She had long since un- 
dertaken i the tour of the world to seek souls who did not 
know her Spouse, that she might ask their conversion through 
the heart of Jesus.' ' Do not,' she said, k let us weary of keep- 
ing ourselves at the feet of the King of Nations. He died for 
all, and all do not yet live. Ah, if I were worthy to run every- 
where to gain some souls, my heart would be satisfied. Let us go, 
let us go together in spirit to all those infidel countries to seek 
to restore one to our good Master. Take the cause of Jesus Christ 
in hand, and do not give any truce to the Eternal Father till 
he has granted you a number of these poor souls. Ask them 
of Jesus and through Jesus, His blood has cried aloud, and 
yet the cause is not won. We must always cry out and im- 
portune Heaven till we have gained our end.'" So spoke the 
zeal and charity of the venerable Mother. She makes men- 
tion in one of her letters of the project entertained by the 
Ursulines of praying specially for the conversion of the celebrated 
Louise de la Valiere, who was a benefactress of their house, and 
who had an aunt in the Ursuline Order in France. She men- 
tions that they had resolved to offer special devotions during 
a period of ten weeks, in honor of the Passion of Our Lord for 
this intention. For twelve years, the religious never ceased to 
ask this grace. When it was granted, in what superabundance ! 
For thirty-seven years, the Duchesse de la Valiere became a 
Carmelite, led a life of wonderful austerity, and angelic piety, 
in expiation of that brief period of worldliness and of error. 
Meanwhile, the principal work in hand was not neglected. 
The vigorous offshoot of the congregation of St. Ursula was 
growing and spreading out branches. New novices, new can- 
didates for admission, were constantly coming in. And the 



172 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



school increased and flourished from year to year in an almost 
miraculous manner. It would be impossible here to give an 
adequate account of the work done among the Indians, men, 
women and children. It would be a volume in itself. The 
piety of these neophytes was something, indeed, extraordinary, 
manifesting itself from the earliest age, and shedding lustre on 
the truly angelic virtues of their teachers. A single instance 
we may give, that of a little Algonquin who had been baptized 
Catherine. She was only six years old, but she died the death 
of a saint. She went frequently to confession and was given 
the Holy Viaticum. She died of a lingering and painful illness, 
which necessitated certain operations. She bore all with a 
smile, saying, "my God, I offer them to Thee." Just before 
her death, she said to her class-mates, who were brought to see 
her: "Catherine is going to see Jesus and His Mother. Catherine 
will be happy in heaven, and will pray for you." Madame de 
la Peltrie remained constantly beside her, speaking of God to 
her, and charging her with commissions for the angels, es- 
pecially those of the monastery, the religious and the savages. 
All the religious, and especially the Venerable Mother, were 
obliged to study the Indian dialects. At fifty years of age, 
Marie began a new one. And this study had to be not super- 
ficial, but thorough and practical, in order to be able to ac- 
complish their missionary work. In the Lent of 1668, the 
Venerable Mother wrote a large volume of Sacred History in 
Algonquin, besides a Catechism and a dictionary in Iroquois. 
The year before she compiled an Algonquin dictionary in 
French characters, and another in Indian characters. Fancy 
what labor, for one whose time was besides fully occupied ! 

On the 1 8th of November, 1671, just when the religious were 
rejoicing at the arrival of four new Ursulines from France, 
Madame de la Peltrie died — a saint, as she had lived. This 
was, indeed, a blow to the little community, but it was followed 
by a still heavier and more disastrous one, on the 30th of April, 



MARIE DE LINCARNA TION. 1 73 

1672. Seventy-two years of age and declining for some time, 
the Venerable Mother was seized in January of that year, or 
thereabouts, with aggravated symptoms, which gave no hope of 
recovery, nor even of much relief. In the midst of her suffer- 
ings, the servant of God repeated constantly : " Now, I have 
the honor of being attached to the Cross of Jesus Christ.'' 
On the 20th of that month she received Extreme Unction. 
But her malady was of a lingering nature, and meanwhile the 
community beseiged Heaven with prayers, austerities, and sacri- 
fices, to prolong this so precious life. But a singular incident 
now occurred. Her confessor, Pere Lalemant, ordered her to 
unite her prayers with those of her Sisters. She remained for a 
moment confounded. Then spoke as follows : " I believe that 
I am going to die, but if it be God's will for me to live, I am will- 
ing." Father Lalemant answered: u That is very good, Mother, 
but you should put yourself out of the question, and do all you 
can to preserve your community, which believes that it has still 
need of you. " In a moment Marie had made her sacrifice. 
Obedience was her habit. She felt better almost immediately, and 
got up, apparently much better. In the midst of universal 
thanksgiving, the heroic woman made every effort to accomo- 
date herself to the common life, and even tried to eat her ac- 
customed food. Nature was stronger than her will. It soon 
became evident that the effort was a superhuman one, and 
could not continue. On Good Friday, April 27th, she again 
received the Last Sacraments, but even death, " the grisly King," 
seemed loath to snatch away so rare a spirit. She lingered till 
the 30th, in the most angelic of sentiments conversing with 
her Sisters and her dear pupils. At noon of that day, she lost 
both speech and hearing, though not consciousness. She still 
from time to time raised the crucifix to her lips. The com- 
munity were prostrate around her bed in prayer and silence. 
Shortly before six in the evening, she opened her eyes, looked 
at her sisters as if in farewell, and closed them forever. A mo- 



174 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



ment's stillness, a sigh, and the great soul of Marie de linear- 
nation had passed out into eternity. The tradition of the con- 
vent preserves the fact, vouched for by the religious present; that 
a ray as of divine glory instantly transfigured the face and form 
of the dead. So powerful an impression did it make upon the 
witnesses, that a custom was established in the monastery to 
sing a Te Deum on the anniversary of the Venerable Mother's 
death — her passage to life rather, that "life to come, which 
shall be eternal." The grief and consternation, with which the 
news of her death was received in Quebec, and throughout 
Canada, are indescribable. Her fellow townspeople hastened 
in crowds to procure even the slightest relic of the saint who 
had died in their midst. The govenor sent an artist to sketch 
the face and figure, stamped with the seal of heavenly glory. This 
portrait perished on the second conflagration, October 20th, 
1686. The Indians were inconsolable. The obsequies were 
conducted by M. de Bernieres, Vicar-General, in the absence of 
the Bishop, and attended by all who could gain admittance. 
The panegyric was pronounced by Father Lalemant the Jesuit. 
But at length the coffin was closed, bearing a simple inscription : 
"Here lies the Rev. Mother Marie Guyart de Tlncarnation, 
first Superior of this Monastery, died the last day of April, 1672, 
aged seventy-two years and six months. She was a professed re- 
ligious and came thither from Tours. Pray for her soul." 
Such were the simple words marking the coffin-lid of one of the 
most remarkable woman that her age produced. Full justice 
was done to her the world over. Bossuet, Fenelon, the Doctors 
of the Sorbonne, Mgr. de Laval, and others paid her magnificent 
tributes. Such things were said of her as can be said of few. 
And added to these testimonies were the more practical ones of 
her sisters, who lived in hourly communion with her, and 
who spoke of her with love, veneration, awe, and extolled her 
as among the first and most perfect of the creatures of God. 
Her confessor, those priests who had been witnesses for years of 



MARIE DE L INCARNATION. 



175 



her sanctity, were all eloquent now in her praise. They could 
not say too much, and, indeed, approached the subject with 
fear and trembling. Father Lalemant says of her : "The 
memory of the deceased will be forever held in benediction in 
these countries, and individually, I have great confidence in 
her prayers. I hope she will be of more assistance to me in 
dying than I was able to be to her. I have been always and 
in every case to her an unprofitable servant, contenting myself 
with observing the works of the Holy Spirit in her, without 
meddling in any way, seeing her in such good hands, lest all 
should be spoiled." 

In the same letter, he describes her personal appearance thus: 
" Mere de lTncarnation was tall, of a grave and majestic car- 
riage, tempered by her humble and modest demeanor. When 
she was still in the world, her whole air was so grand, that 
people stopped in the streets to see her pass. Her features 
were regular, but it was a masculine type of beauty, which 
displayed her greatness of soul. She was strong and of a good 
constitution, and of a most agreeable disposition ; and although 
the continual presence of God imparted a certain something of 
heaven, which commanded respect, no one ever felt embar- 
rassed in her presence. " 

To say which of the virtues shone conspicuous in Marie de 
lTncarnation, would be, indeed, difficult, where all seemed as it 
were equalized, blended by the power of divine grace. Her fidel- 
ity to common observances was such, that whatsoever the heights 
of contemplation to which she was raised, she never omitted 
the smallest of them. Her humility was so deep and so 
solidly grounded, that she rested secure in God, placing her 
every hope in Him, her every effort in Him, her every labor in 
Him. It taaght her the utter nothingness of self, and to put 
herself below the least of her fellows. Thus, on one occasion, 
she was doing some piece of work. A young sister corrected 
her, and told her she was doing wrong. Marie at once 



176 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



changed and did it the sister's way, though she knew that 
way was wrong. She always said, it mattered little in what 
way work is done, but much whether we practice childlike 
humility. She wrote: "I am the most ignorant of all, although 
I teach others. I do nothing in comparison with my sisters." 
Her charity was, in every sense, unbounded. True fraternal 
love influenced her every action. It was not alone the tempor- 
al wants of others she relieved to the best of her ability, it was 
not only their sorrows she consoled, their tears she dried, the 
consolation she imparted, but the spiritual interests of even 
"the least of these," were dear to her as her own. There was 
no limit to her self-devotion, to the entire abnegation which 
she practised in regard to others. And from charity came pa- 
tience, that wise forbearing "patience taught by the highest kind 
of wisdom. Ever tolerant of the shortcomings of others, ever 
finding excuses for their weaknesses and even their crimes, she, so 
near perfection herself, had a tender compassion for all sinners. 
Her love of mortification shines out too, from every page of her 
life, the brightest as the darkest. She heaped every indignity on 
her flesh, tormented it in every imaginable way, and sought with 
eagerness opportunities of crucifying body and mind alike. Her 
love of God was truly marvellous, exceeding in kind and degree 
what our minds can readily imagine. Her zeal for the propagation 
of the Gospel, for the conversion of "all who sit in darkness/' 
was proportioned thereunto. Her faith and confidence in God, 
combined with complete submission to the divine will, never 
ailed her in the darkest hour of trial, interior or exterior. The 
amount of labor she accomplished, especially during the years of 
her Canadian life, would be incredible were it not vouched 
for by unimpeachable authority. She was always studying how 
to do the greatest share of work herself, and spare her sisters as 
much as possible. She could never bear to hear an unkind 
word said of any one. Nor was she ever known to make use 
of any uncharitable expression, even of those who had injured 



MARIE DE L INCARNATION. 



177 



her. She was so easily pleased, that every sister was anxious 
to assist her in work, sure of an encouraging word, and a. kind 
and thoughtful appreciation of her efforts, The piety of Marie 
de Tlncarnation was of a most lofty and enlightened kind. 
While she approached to those heights of mysticism, where St. 
Teresa and other privileged souls have so securely rested, her 
piety was most practical. She always declared that she abhor- 
red whatever was imaginative or sentimental in devotion. By a 
vow which she made, and to which we have before referred, 
she bound herself never to make an excuse when unjustly ac- 
cused j never to permit a complaint to escape her under any pro- 
vocation ; never to speak a word to her own advantage, but to be 
always ready to applaud the good in others ; to show a special 
sweetness to those for whom she felt the least inclination ; to 
embrace all trials from God and from creatures with resigna- 
tion; to repress every emotion of self-love, and every reflection 
on subjects likely to arouse its sensibilities. She never al- 
lowed her spiritual exercises to interfere with her temporal 
duties, and kept her union with God unbroken throughout. 
She had the greatest devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 
and sought to inculcate it in all who approached her. Every 
day she offered the merits of this Heart to God for the Church 
in Canada, the preachers of tne Gospel and her friends. She 
had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin, to St. Joseph and 
to St. Francis Paula, and also to St. Angela, the foundress of the 
Ursulines. 

A glance at the letters of Marie de ITncarnation, which are, 
in a literary point of view, of rare excellance, and as historical 
records, unsurpassed for clearness and accuracy. The style is 
delicate and spirituelle, while forcible and consistent ) they are 
marked by a keenness of perception, a subtle grasp of points 
at issue, an attention to detail which is never wearisome, and a 
breadth of thought embracing the whole extent of what lies be- 
fore them. These letters as models of epistolary style, may be 



178 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



read by those who take no other interest in what Marie de 
Tlncarnation has written. 

The preliminary steps towards the beatification and canoni- 
zation of this "Teresa of New France/' as Pere Charlevoix and 
others have styled her, were taken at Rome, 15 th of September, 
1877, and approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites, and 
by Pius IX, of holy memory, on the 20th of the same month. 
She was the first person declared Venerable in North America. 
The petition despatched to Rome by the Huron Indians on this 
occasion is at once so touching and interesting, that we can- 
not fail to give it here. 

ci Most Holy Father, the greatest of Fathers after Him 
who is in heaven, we are the least of your children, but you are 
the representive of Him who said : ' Suffer little children to 
come unto Me/ So we approach with confidence to pros- 
trate ourselves at your feet. — Most Holy Father: We the chiefs 
and warriors of the Huron tribe, humbly present you a per- 
fume of rich fragrance, composed of the virtues of the Rev. 
Mother Mary of the Incarnation. Deign, Holy Father, to of- 
fer it to God, that passing through your hands, it may more 
surely find acceptance in His sight. Mary of the Incarnation 
called us from our forests, that she might teach us to know 
and adore the true Master of Life. She took our hearts in her 
hands and placed them before the Eternal, as a basket of fruit 
of her own culling. Through her teaching we have learned 
meekness; wolves and bears have fawned upon her; the angry 
roar of fury was changed into the hymn of praise. Our mothers 
kissed her footprints, and signed our foreheads with the blessed 
dust, fruitful for eternity. With her own hands, she marked 
the sign of faith on our hearts, and it has never since been ef- 
faced. Thanks to her, we are able to read the books which 
recall her benefits. We could fill many books with tokens of 
our grateful respect. She loved us with a human, as well as 
with a spiritual affection, she is twice our mother. It is 



MARIE BE V INCARNATION. 



179 



through her teaching and for her sake that we have renounced 
our native wilds, and come to live among our civilized brethren. 
The Bear, the Wolf, the Beaver and the Tortoise,* will be hence- 
forth chained to the sanctuary, and their occupation will be to 
celebrate the praises of the Master of Life. Many moons have 
passed since that first dawning of the true light, Our once 
flourishing nation is on the eve of extinction, but — Most Holy 
Father, we beseech you to receive with the last prayer and the 
last sigh of the Hurons, the assurance of their profound rev- 
erence for Mother Mary of the Incarnaton. The bones of our 
fathers will exult in their tombs, if your voice proclaims the 
eternal happiness of the Mother, to whom we are indebted for 
our faith. She found among our women virgins worthy to 
be admitted to the sanctuary, and among our warriors mission- 
aries and martyrs, who will weave a crown for her in heaven- 
There remains to us but one drop of Huron blood, but if that 
could enrich the immortal crown of Mary of the Incarnation, 
we would willingly bid it flow. Prostrate at your feet, Most 
Holy Father, we implore your benediction." 

This petition was signed by the Grand Chief of the Hurons, 
and fifteen other chiefs. It remains the most glorious testi- 
mony to the labors and reward of this pearl among women. 

Our work is at an end. The lime-light of posterity, and of 
nineteenth century criticism has fallen upon Marie de lTncar- 
nation and her works. She seems to us, in our brief study of 
her, as an exalted type of all that is strong and admirable and 
sublime in Christian womanhood. The Sybil of her time, pro- 
phesying to future generations the work to be accomplished by 
the descendants of those early settlers. She stands out in the 
history of Quebec like an inspired prophetess, proclaiming to 
the nations the kingdom of God. In the ancient capital, Que- 
bec, her memory is as enduring as the stony cliffs upon which 



* The names of the chief tribes. 



i8o 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



the city stands. Away down, too, in the forests, and along the 
banks of streams, soft and clear as an echo, it lingers among 
the mournful remnants of the Indian tribes. The dusky 
children of the forest keep it in picturesque traditions full of the 
wild hyperbole of that all but departed race. It is, abroad, too, 
in the cities — amid civilization and learning and luxury. Peo- 
ple of culture know of Marie de Tlncarnation as a gifted and 
remarkable woman, or as a model of epistolary style, or as one 
of the pioneers of a new empire, or as a philanthropist. But 
the faithful reverence her as an apostolic woman, who brought 
to the mighty tribes of the North the mystic message of Christ, 
and proclaimed it amid the forests, the hills, the streams, and 
the ice-plains of the Northland, with giant strength. Marie de 
l'lncarnation is, in fact, far above human praise, human ap- 
preciation, or merely human comprehension The eye of faith 
discerns her upon the eternal hills of Sion, bearing a wreath of 
' 1 immortal amaranth,'' inlaid with the precious gems of ran- 
somed souls. The children of the Church but wait till the 
Sovereign Pontiff has given her the final title of glory — till 
then they salute her " Venerable." * 



* It had been our intention to give an account of the numerous mir- 
acles wrought after death by this illustrious woman and the extraor- 
dinary circumstances attending the translation of her remains — the 
inexpressibly sweet and fragrant aroma which filled the vault, the watch 
which was found there and from the use of which miracles have been 
obtained. These extraordinary occurrences are not perhaps sufficiently 
known to the public, though they are well worthy of attention. Space 
forbids us to dwell upon them here, as we would have wished. 

Our chief information has been derived from volumes of the Ur- 
sulines de Quebec" for which we are indebted to the Rev. Peie Le Moine, 
chaplain to the Ursuline Convent at Quebec, — the " Life of the Ven- 
erable Mother Mary of the Incarnation," by an Ursuline Religious of 
Black Rock, Cork, and a sketch by the Abbe Casgrain. 



And ?7ie7i a7id a7igels seldom saw a sight to Heaven 7nore dear. 
Than Sister Margaret a7id her flock upon the hill-side here. 

* # * % * if. 

There cai7ie a day ofte77ipest when all was peace before, 
The Huro7i war-cry ra7ig dismay on Hochelaga s shore. 
Then in that day all 77ien confessed with all men's humbled pride, 
How brave a heart, till God's good time a convent serge may hide ! 
The Savage triumphed der the Saint — a tiger in the fold, 
But the mountain mission stands to-day — the Huro7is tale is told. 
###### 

For me, my Country! 77ia7iy are the gifts God gives to thee, 
And glorious is thi7ie aspect, fro7n the sunset to the sea; 
A7id many a cross is in thy midst, ojid 77iany a7i altar fair. 
And many a place where 77ie7i may lay the burde7i that they bear. 
Ah, may it be thy crowning gift, the last as 'twas the first. 
To see thy children at the k7iee of Marguerite B our g toys nursed. 



Hfp YinmdMb ftanjtttrtb Smtrgwoi** 

Foundress of the Congregation of Notre Dame. 

ORE than two hundred years ago lay far to the north- 
ward, amid the forest of the New World, a wild and 
barren tract of country, where the red man chased 
the wild deer, and urged his bark canoe over the surface 
of the rapid rivers, and built his wigwam on the hunting 
grounds of his fathers. When the design of founding a 
colony upon the site of what is now the city of Montreal was 
first conceived by Pere Olier, it was regarded as the 
most extravagant and impracticable which had ever entered 
into the mind of man. Innumerable objections were at 
once advanced; the little colony of Quebec was just struggling 
for a foothold in the New World, and it was alleged that the 
foundation of a new settlement must be to the detriment of the 
old ; the colony of Quebec had been in existence for some 
forty years, and yet in all Canada there were but two hundred 
Europeans, including women, children and religious ; yet few 
as was their number, they were at times deprived almost of the 
necessaries of life. Again it was objected that the spot chosen as 
the site of the new colony, was in a special manner exposed 
to the fury of the Iroquois, who, partly incited as it was sup- 
posed by the Dutch, were bitter and unrelenting enemies of the 
French ; and that the projectors of the enterprise were totally 
without means to carry out their plans. For these plans 
pointed not only to the foundation of a settlement, but to the 
establishment of three communities, a seminary of secular 




WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



priests to minister unto the colonists and labor among the sav- 
ages, a congregation of ladies for the instruction of the daugh- 
ters of the settlers, 'and a community of Hospital Nuns to care for 
the sick and wounded. These three communities were to repre- 
sent and to honor in a particular manner, the three persons of the 
Holy Family. The seminary to honor Our Lord Jesus Christ, 
the congregation of teachers to honor Mary, and the hospital re- 
ligious, St. Joseph. The infant colony was to be placed under the 
special care and patronage of Our Lady, and the city to be 
called Ville-Marie. 

To these objections, M. Oiier and his associates replied as 
follows : 

" The designs of God must by no means be measured by 
those of men, nor must we suppose that He has opened to us, 
across distant seas, these hitherto unknown paths, simply that 
we may bring thence beavers or furs. That may suffice for the 
meaner designs of men, but is far removed from the depth and 
majesty of His ways, and the secret and admirable designs of 
His bounty. The expenses of this great work must be defrayed 
from the heavenly treasury, and can by no means be a burden 
to king or clergy or people/' 

Furthermore it was objected that such an undertaking was 
more suitable to a king than to a few private individuals, and 
that to make a settlement in a place so exposed to the cruelty 
of the savages was a manifest tempting of Providence, and the 
presumption that He would protect them by miracles. To 
this they made answer that: 

£< In declaring our undertaking to be a work proper for a 
king, you have come nearer to the truth than you supposed, 
for the King of kings has taken it into His hands. Leave to 
God the accomplishment of what He wills, for if you were better 
informed in this matter, and knew with what coldness and in- 
difference we proceed therein, you would take no thought of 
us, who are but unworthy and unprofitable servants, but would 



MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS 



185 



desire to adore with us the counsels of His wisdom, and taste the 
effects of His mercy, who does more to assist our work, and 
procure His glory than we deserve. 

" How then could you imagine, that we, relying upon our 
own efforts, should have presumed to dream of so glorious a 
design ? If God be not with us in the affairs of Montreal, if it 
be but a human invention, give yourselves no trouble, what 
you predict will soon occur, for our work cannot last. But if 
God has willed it, who dare gainsay Him ? Relying upon His 
word we believe that this work is of God. Therefore, you who 
can neither believe nor act, leave those who can believe and act 
at liberty to do what God demands of them. 

" You assure us that God will no longer work miracles, but 
how are you informed as to that ? Where is it written ? Jesus 
Christ, on the contrary, assures us that if we have ( faith as 
large as a grain of mustard/ we can accomplish the greatest 
miracles. Since when have you become the directors of the 
divine operations, limiting them to certain times, and confin- 
ing them to ordinary channels ? Moreover, no miracle is re- 
quired ; the least assistance of grace is more than sufficient for the 
success of our work. 

' ' You say that the Island of Montreal is too near the Iroquois, 
that the French will be there exposed to frequent surprises and 
to being massacred by these savages. But if, by Heaven or- 
dained that we can neither convert the Iroquois, nor make 
peace with them, we will wage against them so just, so holy, 
so good a war, that we may hope for the protection of God 
against these little Philistines, who interfere with His workings. 
If all else fails, and danger threatens us, we have a powerful 
mistress; we will hasten to throw ourselves at her feet, to 
implore her special assistance. We have already experienced 
so many instances of her protection in great extremities that if 
need be, you will hear of new ones. Finally, should that favor 
be denied us, and should God will that we be victims, seized and 



i86 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICI TV. 



massacred by the barbarians, do not suppose, even then, that 
you are freed from us. From our ashes, God will raise up 
others, who will do better than we have done/' * 

In certain manscripts written by the advice of his director, 
and not for many, many years made public, M. Olier gives an 
account of the workings of the Holy Spirit within his soul. He 
speaks of the beautiful manifestation of the mysterious designs 
of God given us in the hidden life of the Holy Family, and in 
the lowly birth of Our Saviour. He dwells upon the two-fold 
mission assigned him, that of, in the first place, renewing the 
spirit of God in the Church of France, and in the second, 
founding the Church in New France or Canada, for the pro- 
pagation of the faith among the Indians. He declares that he 
had constantly before him a vision which by the permission 
of God he had seen. In it he beheld a pillar which seemed 
to serve as the foundation and support of two arches or 
Churches, one of which was old and decrepit, the other new. 
Both became as it were joined, and both rested upon the 
pillar or fundamental stone, " which is myself/' he says, " in- 
asmuch as I am filled with the presence of Jesus Christ, the 
sole foundation of all reforms in the present Church, and of 
the establishment of the new one to be made in Canada, "f 

He goes on to speak of his own utter unworthiness, and 
as it were to annihilate himself before God, saying that he knows 
himself " unworthy to serve the holy souls who are to have 
a part in the work, or to be their servant. " I am, " continues 
he, "but a spectator and admirer of the divine prodigies 
and I would deem it a happiness to spend my life in kissing 
their feet and revering the wonders which God has wrought 
in them." 

He alludes to the design before mentioned, and which God 

*Les veritables Motifs des M. M. et Dames de laSociete de Montreal, pp. 
88, 89, 90. 

f Memoires Autographes de M. Olier. Vol. IV. p. 169, Vol. III. p. 2C6. 



MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS. 



had revealed to "him, of founding in the new colony three com- 
munities^ pledging themselves to honor in a special manner 
Jesus, Mary, Joseph. They were to be a living image of the 
part taken by the Holy Family in the foundation of the primitive 
Church. 

Meanwhile, M. Le Royer de la Dauversiere was enlightened 
in a no less extraordinary manner. This gentleman was 
Collector of Taxes at La Fleche. He was remarkable for 
sanctity and austerity of life. God revealed to him, also, that 
He desired to be honored in Canada by the devotion to the 
Holy Family, that he had chosen him to represent St. Joseph, 
and to found a community, specially devoted to that saint. 
That therefore he was to bring to the New World religious for 
the care of the sick and wounded. M. Dauversiere was thrown 
into the deepest perplexity, the more so that he was married 
and the father of six children, and that his means were very 
small. He prayed again and again that the divine will might 
be made known in his regard, and by the advice of his con- 
fessor who had, at first, treated the whole matter as a delusion, 
he went to Paris. There he met with M. Olier in the gallery 
of the Chateau of Mendon. Neither of them had ever seen 
the other, yet as it were by inspiration, they fell into each 
other's arms, with the greatest affection. M. Olier then spoke of 
Mr. Dauversiere s mission in Canada, upon which he seemed to 
be fully informed, and told him that he was about to recommend 
the affair to God. He then said Mass at which M. Dau- 
versiere communicated. After Mass they conversed for some 
time about the affair, and of the light which had been vouch- 
safed them. 

Gradually their undertaking seemed to take shape. Melle. 
de Mance, being likewise divinely inspired, met M. de la 
Dauversiere in a church at New Rochelle. When all was in 
readiness, and the little band of colonists about to sail for 
America, Melle. de Mance was amongst them, -and Madame De 



i88 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



La Peltrie, who embarked at the last moment. Amongst those 
directly or indirectly concerned in the enterprise was the saintly 
Brother Claude Legai, "one of the most extraordinary men of 
his day," Melle. Marie Rousseau de Gurnay, and many others 
to whom God had communicated His designs by special revela- 
tions. Yet many of them never saw the New World, feeling 
called, like M. Olier himself, to remain behind, and assist by 
their prayers alone, the little band of apostles which he had 
formed. 

In 164 1, they set sail from New Rochelle, having onboard 
Melle. Jeanne Mance, accompanied by one other lady. They 
were to begin the foundation of the Hospital Nuns in the 
New World, where their services were much needed because 
of the constant skirmishes with the Iroquois. Reaching Quebec 
in the fall of the same year, they remained there till spring, 
the St. Lawrence not being navigable during the winter 
months. 

Meanwhile, after their departure, M. Olier assembled the 
associates of the company of Montreal, numbering some thirty- 
five. M. Olier himself said Mass at the grand altar of Notre 
Dame de Paris, while other priests also celebrated at the side 
altars, and the lay members communicated. After which the 
Island of Montreal was solemnly dedicated to the Holy Family 
and the future settlement named in advance Ville-Marie. Each 
associate finally pledged himself to promote the good work with 
a pure and disinterested zeal. 

The spring had come again, and towards the middle of May, 
the colonists sailed upon the blue St. Lawrence to their desti- 
nation. It was a fair and flowery plain, that which was to be 
Our Lady's city. On the 17th of May, the settlers landed there 
and on the following day an altar was erected, which Melle. de 
Mance and her companions adorned to the best of their ability, 
or rather with the best means at their command. Pere Vimont, 
of the Society of Jesus, intoned the Veni Creator, Mass was 



MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS. 



189 



said, and the Blessed Sacrament was left exposed, as it were to 
install the King of kings in this new sovereignty. 

In such manner was laid the foundation of that little colony, 
wherein the heroine of our sketch was to labor, and to suffer, 
and to glorify God. 

Marguerite Bourgeoys was born in the town of Troyes, in the 
province of Champagne, on the 17th of April, 1620, which as it 
chanced was in that year, Good Friday. Her parents, Abraham 
Bourgeoys or Bourgeois and Guillemette Gamier, were in com- 
fortable circumstances. They were both distinguished by their 
fervent piety and many virtues. Their daughter Marguerite 
was early remarkable for a great facility in acquiring knowledge. 
At ten years of age, she was known to assemble around her 
a group of young companions for prayer and pious exercises. 
They formed plans even then, which several among them were 
in after years to carry out, that they should live apart from the 
world and serve God in solitude. Did the divine whisper al- 
ready speak to Marguerite's soul of a land far over the 
great ocean, where in the shadow of a wooded hill, on the shores 
of a mighty river, she was to labor among people who were not 
of her race, and impart to the children of the forest their first 
idea of God. 

While she was still quite young her mother died, and Mar- 
guerite became housekeeper, besides having the care of the 
younger children upon her shoulders. Pure and gentle, gra- 
cious and winning, pious and humble, she had a motherly 
thoughtfulness, and a womanly judgment far in advance of her 
years, which fitted her for her onerous post, and at the same 
time won all hearts. 

The Religious of the congregation at Troyes had lately found- 
ed a lay congregation or sodality for young girls, the members 
whereof bound themselves to meet on Sundays and holy-days 
and at other stated times for religious exercises. Marguerite was 
urged to join this association, but felt a certain reluctance to 



190 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY, 



comply with some of the rules, one of which required a grave 
simplicity in dress that often drew ridicule upon its members. 
To anything of the kind Marguerite was keenly alive and more- 
over, had a natural love of dress which caused her to shrink 
from the sacrifice. 

However, on the Feast of the Holy Rosary, Marguerite went 
to the Dominican Church and joined the procession in honor of 
Our Lady. Just as the procession passed under the porch of 
the abbey of Notre Dame au Fonnains, called in ancient chron- 
icles, Le Beau Poriail, Marguerite's eyes fell upon the statue of 
Mary. Swift as a flash of lightning, an interior light broke 
in upon her soul, clearly showing her the vanity of all human 
things, and awakening in her an ardent desire to devote herself 
more and more to the service of God. Marguerite became a 
sodalist, or as it was then called, Congreganiste. She soon 
distinguished herself in the society for her virtues, and was 
shortly after elected president. During the years that followed, 
and whilst Marguerite progressed in wisdom and in holiness, 
she was under the direction of Father Jendret, a most learned 
and enlightened man. Perceiving her inclination for an aus- 
tere life, he advised her to become a Carmelite. Marguerite 
joyfully consented. Her father was willing. She offered herself 
as a candidate to the superior of the order. She was refused, 
although no reasons were assigned for the refusal. Still ardently 
desiring the silent life of prayer, and more especially that of an 
austere order, she next applied to a convent of poor Clares, but 
was again denied admittance. Accepting her disappointment 
with a sweet and touching humility, she continued to labor 
amongst the people she had known since early youth. Some 
time after, Father Jendret consented, at her earnest and reiterated 
desire, to her taking the solemn vows of poverty and chastity. 
He also permitted her at a later period by the advice of other 
distinguished ecclesiastics to attempt the foundation of a new 
Order. Its aim was to honor the Blessed Virgin, in that portion 



MARGUERITE B OUR GEO VS. 191 

of her life after the Resurrection of Our Lord, when she assisted 
the Apostles in their missionary labors. This good priest held 
that of the three types of womenhood on earth, after the Resur- 
rection, Mary Magdalen was honored by the cloistered or aus- 
tere orders, Martha by those devoted to the service of their 
neighbor, and that the after life of the Blessed Virgin was not 
represented. 

[Marguerite accordingly made the attempt, and Madame de 
Chuly, a sister of one of the religious of the congregation, offered 
her a room in her house for the purpose. With two young com- 
panions, she began her new mission. Nobly she emulated the 
charity of the Blessed Virgin toward others , her apostolic zeal, 
her fervor, her self-sacrifice. Earnestly she labored to form young 
girls in virtue and piety, and to save them from the dangers that 
surrounded them. Meanwhile the roar of the ocean that lay 
between drowned the voices calling her from beyond the waves , 
and Marguerite toiled on, till the death of one of her companions 
and the departure of the other, put an end to her undertaking. 

About this time her father died, and Marguerite gave a rare 
instance of her wonderful courage and energy, no less than 
her filial devotion, in the fact that she buried him herself. 
After this affliction, Marguerite returned to the home of Ma- 
dame de Chuly, still awaiting the manifestation of the divine 
will. 

On the Feast of the Assumption of that year, 1650, she was 
chosen from amongst the sodalists to keep watch before the 
Blessed Sacrament during the time of the procession. Mar- 
guerite prostrated herself, and remained for some time lost in 
profound adoration. Suddenly raising her eyes, she beheld 
Our Lord, under the form of a child of three years old. Mar- 
vellously beautiful was His face, shining His garments, radiant 
the ambient air, and the heart of the servant of God overflowed 
with peace and love and joy. Wrapt in ecstasy, she heard the 
murmurdeep in her heart, Jesus^ Son of the living God. When 



192 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



the apparition had vanished, she left the church, and thence- 
forth relished only the things of God. 

Meantime, M. Paul de Chamedey de Maisonneuve had 
been appointed governor of the little colony, in the formation 
of which he had played an important part. In the interests of 
the settlement he made frequent journeys to France. On such 
occasions he usually went to Troyes to visit his sisters, Ma- 
dame de Chuly,and Soeur Louise de Ste. Marie of the Congre- 
gation. When he came thither in 1641, the religious of that 
order eagerly besought him to bring some of them to Ville- 
Marie, where they might undertake the work of education. He 
made them some indefinite promises, but declared that the 
state of the little colony at that time made such a thing impos- 
sible. As a reminder of his promises to them, they presented 
him with a statue of the Blessed Virgin, bearing upon its base 
the inscription, 

Sainte Merede Dieu. pure Vierge au coeur loyal, 
Gardez nous une place en votre Montreal.* 

Soon after Marguerite began to feel herself drawn towards 
the New World, and confided her feelings upon the subject to 
Soeur Louise de Ste. Marie. The good nun made her promise 
to accompany them, in case they were ever called upon to go. 
M. de Maisonneuve did not return to Troyes till 1653. About 
this time, Marguerite had a dream, in which she saw a man in 
a brown robe, who seemed to be half priest, half layman ; it 
was made known to her that he was to be the arbiter of her 
destiny, and lead her whither God called her. On the follow- 
ing morning M. de Maisonneuve came to the convent, and 
Soeur Louise spoke to him of Marguerite. He became inter- 
ested at once, and desired to see her. The moment she en- 



*Holy Mother of God, pure Virgin of loyal heart, keep us a place in thy 
Montreal, 



MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS. 



l 93 



tered the room, she cried out, in utter amazement, ' 1 That is 
my priest." She was asked to explain, she related her dream, 
and Sceur Louise laughed heartily, but M. de Maisonneuve 
was much struck thereby, being well aware that she had never 
before seen him. He was, moreover, much pleased by her 
grave, gentle, and pious bearing. So much so, that before 
leaving Troyes, he asked her to come to Montreal and under- 
take the charge of a school for girls. She answered that she 
was willing, subject to the approval of her confessor, and 
the ecclesiastical authorities. M. de Maisonneuve himself con- 
sulted Father Jendret as to her capabilities for the post, and re- 
ceived a most favorable account of her. Father Jendret further 
advised Marguerite to act upon the suggestion. This advice 
was confirmed by the Vicar-General of Troyes, in the absence of 
the bishop, and also by a certain Father Profit, to whom she had 
been in the habit of confessing, when Father Jendret was away. 

Marguerite decided to go, and M. de Maisonneuve left Troyes 
for Paris. The religious of the congregation, full of holy 
envy, besought her not to go without them, and reminded 
her of her promise. Marguerite replied that she had promised 
to go with them if they went, but not to wait too long for them. 
Doubts and perplexities of various kinds now began to assail 
her. Melle. de Crolo, a fellow sodalist, was most anxious to 
accompany her, but M. de Maisonneuve declared that to take 
more than one was an impossibility. Anxiously she asked 
herself, could she consent to cross the ocean with so many of 
the opposite sex ? Was such a course of action consistent with 
Christian prudence ? Father Jendret solved her doubts. He 
told her that the divine will seemed, beyond all doubt, to de- 
mand such a sacrifice. < c He told me," writes Marguerite, 
" to place myself in the hands of M. de Maisonneuve, regard- 
ing him as one of the first knights of the Queen of Angels, and 
to go to Ville-Marie with every confidence/ 7 * 

* Ecrits Autographes de la Soeur JBourgeoys. 



194 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



But she still remained irresolute. The long voyage without 
any companion of her own sex, the immeasurable distance, 
the unknown life which awaited her, all filled her with mis- 
givings. One early morning she was kneeling in her room, 
praying to Mary, and asking of her strength and guidance. All 
of a sudden the room grew very bright, but the brightness was 
not that of the morning sun, as at first she supposed. It was 
a gleam of heavenly radiance, surrounding a lady of tall and 
majestic aspect, who stood before her clad in a robe of white 
serge. She knew instinctively that it was the tender and 
gracious Queen, whom she had so loved from infancy. 

The apparition spoke: " Go/' the lady said, a go, I will not 
abandon you.'' When Marguerite rose from her knees, it was 
bright day. She felt that her doubts and fears, her despon- 
dency and irresolution, were dispelled like mists by the morn- 
ing sun. She determined to make no delay. When she left 
Troyes, no one knew of her ultimate design of leaving France, 
except the priests whom she had consulted, and the religious of 
the Congregation. M. de Maisonneuve had written to ask his 
sister Madame de Chuly to come to Paris, bringing Marguer- 
ite with her, but he gave no reason for the request. Marguer- 
ite's uncle, M. Cossard, also accompanied them. On that 
bright day in the month of February, 1653, the diligence bore 
away from her native city, Marguerite Bourgeoys, the illustrious 
foundress of the Congregation of Montreal. She took abso- 
lutely nothing with her save a small parcel of necessary cloth- 
ing, which she herself carried all the way. On the journey she 
chatted gaily with her companions, speaking openly of her in- 
tention of accompanying M. de Maisonneuve to Canada. Her 
companions supposed her to be in jest, and so the matter re- 
mained till her arrival in Paris. She then requested her uncle 
to accompany her to a notary. He did so, when to his amaze- 
ment, she signed away all her possessions to the various mem- 
bers of her family. M. Cossard at first opposed such a step, 



MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS. 



'95 



but ultimately consented to it. Madame de Chuly was also very 
unfavorably disposed towards Marguerite's project. Even af- 
ter these two friends had returned to Troyes, they continued urg- 
ing her in their letters to abandon the idea of going to Ameri 
ca, representing the various obstacles in the way ; but all in 
vain. However, a more serious trial awaited her. During her 
stay in Paris, she remained at the house of Melle. de Bellevue, 
a lady of rank. This lady was also much opposed to Mar- 
guerite's intention of going over the sea, and aware of her early 
partiality for the Order of Mt. Carmel, prevailed upon her broth- 
er, who was Provincial of the Carmelites, to offer her admittance. 
Marguerite at once consulted a priest of that order, who im- 
perfectly understanding the manifestations of God in her regard, 
advised her to become a Carmelite. Marguerite, almost in de- 
spair, chanced to enter a Jesuit Church. The. e she confided her 
doubts and perplexities to a Father of the Society of Jesus, who, 
as it happened, was well acquainted with Canada. Having 
carefully examined the facts of the case, he believed her 
clearly called to serve God in the New World. With- 
out farther delay, she set out for Nantes, to await the time 
of departure. Her journey thither was one long series 'of hu- 
miliations. She was twice refused admittance to inns, because 
of her humble appearance, and the fact of her journeying alone. 
On the vessel from Orleans to Nantes, she, nevertheless, induced 
the passengers, who were principally men, to join her in night 
and morning prayers, to recite the Rosary, and to listen to pious 
reading. 

On reaching Nantes, she proceeded, as instructed, to the house 
of Madame Lecoq, wife of the owner of the vessel in which they 
were to sail. Marguerite had some difficulty in finding the 
house, but meeting M. Lecoq in the street, he himself directed 
her thither. However, an unfortunate circumstance again caused 
her much annoyance. A young man who had travelled on the 
vessel from Orleans to Nantes, and was in the employ of M. de 



196 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



Maisonneuve, filled with the deepest respect for Marguerite, per- 
sisted in accompanying her to her destination, and carrying her 
parcel. Madame Lecoq was so scandalized at this proceeding, 
that she refused to receive her. Marguerite repaired to the near- 
est church, prayed for some time, and returned. Madame Lecoq 
then openly reproached her with being accompanied by a young 
man, and would have sent her away again, but that M. Lecoq 
opportunely arrived, and Marguerite was installed in the house, 
with many apologies from its mistress. She became an honored 
and beloved inmate, and when she sailed for Canada, was sup- 
plied by the worthy couple with many necessaries for the voy- 
age. At Xantes she was again troubled by scruples. The pro- 
vincial of the Carmelites wrote 10 her once more, offering her 
admission, and a Carmelite confessor again declared it to be the 
will of God that she should enter that Order. Marguerite, in 
great interior desolation, hastened to the nearest church. It 
chanced to be that of the Capuchins : the Blessed Sacrament was 
exposed upon the altar, and Marguerite, prostrating herself upon 
the ground, cried out from the depths of her heart that she de- 
sired simply, solely, and entirely the will of God and begged in 
her anguish that it might be made known to her. She rose 
more determined than ever to go to Canada. She left the church 
full of interior joy and peace, for to her troubled soul had come 
the olden message, Pax vobiscum. 

On the 2cth of June, 1653, Marguerite with the band of col- 
onists set sail from Saint Nazaire, in a vessel called the St. 
Nicholas. There were 108 volunteers on board, chosen by M. 
de Maisonneuve for the defence of the colony. Marguerite was 
greatly surprised to find among the passengers several young 
girls, and one or two married women accompanying their hus- 
bands. 

The vessel had not proceeded far on its course, when it was 
discovered to be leaking. All hands were set to work, but the 
water rose higher and higher, and when they were some three 



MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS. 



197 



hundred and fifty leagues at sea, they were obliged to put back. 
Great alarm prevailed amongst the passengers ; Marguerite tells 
us that there was no priest on board, and of the 120 passengers, 
108 were soldiers, few of whom were prepared to meet their 
God . At Saint Nazaire, which they reached in safety, they were 
delayed a month. During this first short voyage, Marguerite 
met with the following little trials : the barrels of fresh water 
which had been put on board for her use by M. Lecoq were 
taken from her, and she was obliged to drink the brackish water 
provided for the sailors. In this, however, her wonderful spirit 
of mortification made her rather rejoice. In the second place, 
a parcel of fine linen and lace, provided by Madame de Chuly 
for her brother, and given to Marguerite's care, fell into the water. 
Every effort was made to save it, but in vain. Marguerite 
tremblingly sought M. de Maisonneuve to tell him of the 
loss, fearing his just anger. M. de Maisonneuve laughed 
heartily at her trepidation and its cause, exclaiming, u that he 
was very glad of the loss, because it rid both him and her of the 
trouble of caring for these ornaments of vanity." 

They set sail for the second time from Saint Nazaire, on the 
feast of St. Margaret. Having first heard Mass, they embarked 
to the number of eight hundred. Never had the fair shores of 
Fiance seemed fairer, nor its scenes more tender and beautiful, 
than now, on the eve of a long and perilous journey, whence 
some were to return nevermore. Mournfully they turned their 
eyes shoreward, as the land grew dim to their sight. Very soon 
they had passed outward into the great ocean. 

During the voyage Marguerite was indefatigable in her 
apostolic work. She labored amongst the soldiers who were 
going out for the defence of the colony. She induced them to 
pray, to listen to pious reading, to learn their catechism, and in 
a word to become good and practical Catholics. Nor was this 
all ; a disease broke out onboard the vessel, of which eight per- 
sons died. Day and night Marguerite watched beside the suf- 



19 8 WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 

ferers, with more than womanly tenderness, with more than 
Christian charity. M. de Maisonneuve constantly sent her deli- 
cacies from his own table, but she never, even in a single in- 
stance, partook of them. They were invariably reserved for 
the use of her patients. 

And so in the weary hours of the long voyage, Marguerite 
began her heroic mission of charity: the charity which had borne 
her away from the country of her birth, to dwell with the people 
of an alien race, and amid the forests of an alien land. One by 
one, the spires, the domes, the hili-tops of her beloved France, 
receded from her sight, but her brave heart never failed, 
the happy smile never left her lips. Yet she had left her 
fatherland forever. Tranquil, nay. even joyous, she turned her 
eyes upon the little band who were to be henceforth and for- 
ever the companions of her exile, and thought only of winning 
their souls to God. 

Meanwhile, the greatest anxiety* prevailed both in Ville-Marie 
and Quebec. The very existence of each was threatened by 
the Iroquois. Every resource was exhausted ; all eyes were 
turned toward the coming of M. de Maisonneuve; and all 
hopes pointed to the timely relief which his recruits would 
bring. Not being aware that the vessel had been delayed a 
month at Saint Nazaire, the colonists began to fear that some 
disaster had befallen it. Prayers were offered, the Blessed 
Sacrament was exposed, and even* one prayed with the greatest 
fervor, that the succor so much needed might not be denied 
them. 

At length they arrived; it was in September. The forests and 
hills of Canada were rich with a beauty greater than that of 
spring. To European eyes, indeed, all was wild, uncouth, 
savage, but nature was at least unrestrained. She had poured 
her treasures with lavish hand upon the woodlands, and on 
the wooded slopes of the hills, so that they shone resplendant 
with the gold and scarlet of the dying foliage. 



MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS, 



199 



They landed at Quebec upon the Feast of St. Maurice, Septem- 
ber 2 2d, and were greeted with the rejoicings of a whole people. 
The Te Deum was entoned : the echo of that universal hymn 
of thanksgiving which went up from overladen hearts. 

Marguerite Bourgeoys remained some time at Quebec, caring 
for those of her fellow-travellers who were not yet completely 
restored to health. Every effort was made, in fact, to retain her 
permanently at Quebec, but to Ville-Marie she had been called, 
and thither she was determined to go. It was at this time that 
she first met Melle. Mance, the foundress of the Hotel Dieu or 
Hospital Nuns of St. Joseph. An ever-enduring friendship was 
then begun between them. 

M. de Maisonneuve was also urged to remain and cast his lot 
with the colony of Quebec. M. de Lauson, the governor, beg- 
ged of him to leave them the hundred recruits. But M. de 
Maisonneuve replied that he would not even leave one man, 
that they had been sent out at great expense to assist the infant 
settlement of Ville-Marie, and that to Ville-Marie they must go. 
M. de Lauson endeavored to prevent their departure by refus- 
ing them the vessels necessary to reach Montreal. M. de 
Maisonneuve having, however, succeeded in obtaining such, 
he put all his men on board, embarking last himself, that not 
even one might be left behind. 

No sooner had the devoted little band arrived at Ville-Marie 
than the men set to work tc build, to fortify, to erect a church 
and an hospital. As it was necessary to convey the sick within 
the walls of the fort, for fear of the Iroquois, two small fortified 
buildings were erected on either side, w 7 here they could be 
placed in safety. Marguerite Bourgeoys herself observes the 
change wrought in these men during the long sea-voyage. They 
had become true Christians, brave, gentle, and pious. M. de 
Maisonneuve formed a number of these soldiers into a com- 
pany, called the Company of the Blessed Virgin. It numbered 
sixty-three, in honor cf the years of her earthly life. The as- 



200 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



sociates had each a day of the week to communicate, so that 
there was a constant daily communion in the society. They 
thus laid, as it were, at the feet of their Queen, a rare flower to 
commemorate each year of her earthly life. They assembled on 
Sundays to hear a sermon; they began even' action with prayer; 
and often proceeded in a body to the church for their devotions. 
However, the main end of the association was th?teverv mem- 
ber should be willing to sacrifice himself for the good of his 
country, and of his fellow-men. Hence, they pledged them- 
selves to die, if necessary, in defending the colony against the 
Iroquois, and in pursuance of their vow mounted guard, when- 
ever danger threatened. 

During these years Marguerite Bourgeoys had little oppor- 
tunity of working among the children, as most of them died in 
infancy ; yet she was far from being idle. By her wise counsels, 
her strong good sense, and remarkable judgment, she proved a 
rarely good adviser for M. de Maisonneuve, and aided him in 
many important matters. She likewise contributed much to 
his sanctification. She induced him to practise evangelical 
poverty, and advised him, with the approval of the Jesuit Fa- 
thers, to take a vow of perpetual chastity, that he might the 
better labor for the glory of God. 

Some years before Sister Bourgeoys' arrival in the colony, an 
incident occurred which is worthy of remark. Somewhere about 
the winter of 1642, the colonists, in terror of the Iroquois, took 
refuge in the fort. It was Christmas eve. A terrible storm 
arose, and raged with such violence that it struck awe even to 
their valiant hearts. As the night wore on, they thought upon 
the coming of the Christ-Child, and fervently prayed to Him for 
help. But the river, rapid and swollen, overflowed its 
banks. On it rushed, faster and faster, crawling upwards, as it 
were, with savage determination to engulf all human beings in 
a common ruin. Still the trembling colonists knelt in prayer, 
and M. de Maisonneuve registered a vow. that if they escaped 



MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS. 



20I 



this danger, he himself would carry a cross up the mountain 
side and plant it upon the summit of Mont R ovale. But even 
yet the waters raged without, rising higher and higher, growing 
fiercer and more cruel, while ever and anon the despairing men 
looked out upon what they regarded as certain death. The 
crawling waters reached the very threshold of the fort, but there 
they receded ; nor did they come farther. At midnight the 
storm abated, and the Christmas day dawned bright and fair. 
With joyful hearts M. de Maisonneuve and his companions 
praised and gave thanks to God. On the feast of the Epiph- 
any, M. de Maisonneuve, accompanied by a number of the 
colonists, fulfilled his vow. The cross was borne to the summit 
of Mont Royal e, and there planted, An altar was raised, and 
Mass said by the Pere Perron. Thereafter the place became 
one of pilgrimage. 

When Sister Bourgeoys was still in her native Champagne, 
she had heard the history of this cross from M. de Maisonneuve, 
and he had promised that on her arrival in Canada, she should 
visit the spot. She reminded him of his promise, but the cross 
had been torn down by the Iroquois, and the people obliged to 
forsake the place, for fear of them. Before Marguerite had 
been long in Ville-Marie, she induced the people to set up a 
second cross, and establish there a second time a place of pil- 
grimage. The cross was planted, but never again became a gen- 
eral resort, for the Iroquois lurked in the surrounding woods, 
ready to fall upon unwary travellers. 

The first years of Marguerite's life in the colony were, as we 
have seen, spent in works of charity and of apostolic zeal. She 
encouraged the weak, she instructed the ignorant, she visited 
and cared for the sick, she buried the dead, she gave to the poor, 
even the very mattress and pillows which had been provided 
for her by M. Lecoq and thus left without a mattress, slept her- 
self upon the bare ground. 

All this time, the Jesuit Fathers had been attending the two 



202 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



colonies of Montreal and Quebec, but they began to find that 
it led them away from the main object of their presence in the 
New World, namely their missions amongst the Indians. M. 
de Maisonneuve, too, was anxious to bring to Ville-Marie the 
priests of Saint Sulpice,who were one of the three Orders in M. 
Olier's original design. He went to France and succeeded in 
bringing back four Sulpician Fathers, one of whom, M. de 
Queylus, was named Vicar-General, holding powers, as the 
Jesuits had done before, from the Archbishop of Rouen. 

Marguerite Bourgeoys, soon after, took up her abode in a 
poor stable, and there laid the foundation of her great work. 
She had one assistant, Marguerite Picaud, who afterwards 
married, but being then single, remained with her at the stable, 
and aided her in teaching. The stable was fitted up some, a 
chimney made, and an upper loft, reached by a ladder from 
without, was cleaned and put in order. The building and ad- 
joining ground were given to Marguerite in perpetuity. Here 
she first established a sodality or congregation, similar to that 
one to which she had herself belonged in Troves. So gradu- 
ally the little stable, where the meetings were held, became 
known as the House of the Congregation. Here, too, Sister 
Bourgeoys received the first Iroquois child ever given to the 
colonists. In baptism it was called Marie des Neiges, but it 
only lived to be six years old. A second little Iroquois was 
afterwards named Marie des Neiges, but it, too, died, and a 
third was given the name. This last, as we find in the chronicles, 
grew to womanhood. 

Sister Bourgeoys now conceived the design of building a little 
chapel, at a short distance from the city, which, under the invo- 
cation of Mary, might be a place of pilgrimage for the colonists. 
So great were the obstacles to her plan, that it was not until 
many years after that the corner-stone of the new church w r as 
laid. It was the first ever built of stone at Ville-Marie. It 
afterwards became known throughout the Island as Notre 



MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS, 



203 



Dame de Bon Secours. About this time, Sister Bourgeoys 
went to France. She undertook the voyage from a double 
motive, in the first place, to procure some young girls who 
would aid her in the work of education, and in the second to ac- 
company Melle. Mance, who suffering terribly from the effects 
of a fall, was obliged to cross the ocean. She was, however, 
miraculously cured of her sufferings, at the tomb of M. Olier. 
Marguerite Bourgeoys left her at Paris, and proceeded to 
Troyes. She returned to the New World with some able as- 
sistants, Catherine Crolo, who, from the first, had desired to ac- 
company her, Aimee Chately, Marie Raisin and Anne Hioux. 
M. Chatel gave his daughter 150 pounds in gold, warning her 
to keep it a secret from Sister Bourgeoys, lest she should re- 
fuse it. M. Raisin offered her one thousand francs with his 
daughter, but could not prevail upon her to accept more than 
30c. He, however, put the rest out at interest for his daugh- 
ters benefit, and even when he was dead, and his son in pos- 
session of the estate, the money was still paid to the House of the 
Congregation. A young girl, who also came out with them, after- 
wards became the wife of a certain Nicholas Boyer. As thevessel 
was about to sail, a young man presented himself, desiring to 
betaken out to the colony, that he might there work for the ser- 
vice of God. He was seized while on ship-board with a hemor- 
rhage,and died two years after his arrival. Thirty-two young girls 
who were being sent out to Ville-Marte, in the hope that they 
might be induced to settle there, were on this voyage confided 
to Sister Bourgeoys. Melle. Mance and two Hospital Sisters 
of St. Joseph were on the vessel, as also M. Le Maistre, and M. 
Vignal, priests of St. Sulpice. M. de la Dauversiere came to 
la Rochelle to witness the departure of the Hospital Sisters, for 
whose foundation he had so labored, and when the vessel con- 
taining them vanished from his sight, he recited with fervent 
gratitude, the Nunc Dimittis, "Now, 0 Lord, let thy servant 
depart in peace. " Nor was his prayer unheard. The vessel 



204 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



sailed on the Feast of the Visitation, July 2d, and in the fol- 
lowing November he died. 

During the voyage a terrible plague broke out. At first the 
two priests took sole charge of the sick, caring for them, and 
burying the dead. But the Hospital Sisters, no less than Mar- 
guerite Bourgeoys and her companions, insisted on sharing 
their labors. Each in turn, as they tended the sick, were 
stricken down, being seized with the malady, though in various 
degrees. Just a year from the time of her departure thence, on 
St. Michael's Day, September 29th, Sister Bourgeoys arrived at 
Ville-Marie, where she was received with the liveliest joy. 

About the same time, a Vicar-Apostolic was sent to Canada 
with the title of Bishop in partibus of Petrea in Arabia. The 
new Vicar, Mgr. de Laval, a learned,pious,and enlightened man, 
having arrived, M. de Queylus ceased to exercise jurisdiction. 
Mgr. de Laval judged it expedient that the Hospital Sisters, 
lately come from France, should join those already settled at 
Quebec, or else return to France. He believed it better that 
but one order of each kind should settle in the country. He 
also urged Marguerite Bourgeoys and her companions to be- 
come Ursuline nuns. They objected on the ground that by 
joining a cloistered community, the end of their coming to 
Canada could not be attained, and that they could not exer- 
cise the mission to which they believed themselves called. He 
did not at the time insist, but on this account delayed for 
some years any recognition of them as a community. 

Meantime the colony was suffering terribly from the attacks 
of the Iroquois. They were beset on every side, and many 
heroic men died bravely in defence of their country. On the 
29th of August, 1660, M. de Maistre went, with a few servants, 
from the seminary to the farm of St. Gabriel, to make the har- 
vest. He stationed himself as sentinel, to keep watch while the 
others worked. He was surprised, and slain by the Iroquois, 
who cut off his head, and wrapping it in a cloth bore it away with 



MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS. 



205 



them. It is related that the imprint of his face was very dis- 
tinct upon the cloth, so much so, that it was readily recognized 
by some French prisoners in the Iroquois villages. This cir- 
cumstance excited great terror among the savages, who began 
to regard M. de Maistre as a demon. A Jesuit Father, who 
was a missionary among the more distant tribes, declares that 
it was spoken of among all the savages. Marguerite Bourgeoys 
herself mentions it in her writings, * and the Hospital Sisters re- 
late it in their archives, with many additional details. They 
declared that the portion of the handkerchief upon which the 
features were impressed, became like fine white wax, and that 
the handkerchief was entirely free from blood, f 

About the same time, three men were attacked by the Iro- 
quois in a house at Point St. Charles, near Ville -Marie, and 
killed. ' One of them, Jean de Saint-Pere, was a man of ex- 
traordinary piety. His head was cut off and borne away by 
the Indians, but as they went it spoke to them distinctly, and 
in their own language, of which in life Saint-Pere had been 
totally ignorant. It reproached them for their cruelty towards 
the whites, and predicted that the whites should one day be 
their masters. 

The Iroquois at length became so daring in their outrages, 
that M, de Maisonneuve, not content with acting upon the de- 
fensive, determined to send a force to attack them, and inspire 
a salutary fear of the whites. Seventeen of the colonists, hav- 
ing fervently received Communion, made a vow before the al- 
tar to accept no quarter, but to fight unto death. Then they 
went forth under the command of M. Daulac. Unhappily, 
some forty Hurons and four Algonquins persisted in joining 
them. The colonists sailed up the river to the Long Sault. 
There they came in sight of the enemy. They entrenched 



ficrits Autographes de la Soeur Bourgeoys. 
t Archives de l'Hotel Dieu. Lettre sur la Mort de M. Le Maistre. 



206 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



themselves hastily and as best they could behind a few stakes. 
Three hundred Iroquois advanced to attack them. The contest 
was sustained with desperate courage upon the one hand, and 
appalling ferocity upon the other. The Iroquois were, however, 
repulsed with great loss, but reinforcements were at hand. A 
body of five hundred Iroquois were encamped at Isle Richelieu, 
whence they had intended attacking Three Rivers, Quebec, 
and finally Ville-Marie. The whole of this force now hastened 
to the spot. In their mad terror the Indian allies deserted the 
French, and giving themselves up to the Iroquois, informed 
them that there were but seventeen colonists in the entrench- 
ment. This the enemy refused at first to believe, but the state- 
ment being confirmed, they, for very shame, resolved to con- 
quer. The struggle, which had been protracted for five days, 
nevertheless, lasted three days longer. At the end of that time, 
the little band of heroes died, fighting with desperate valor and 
unto the very last. Such a feat of arms deservedly cast lustre 
upon the French arms in North America. It was an instance 
of heroism unparalleled in the history of any country. Nor was 
it in vain. The Iroquois, alarmed at the extraordinary courage 
and prowess of the French, gave up their design of attacking 
the colonies. 

M. Vignal, a Sulpician, and M. Brigeart, secretary to the 
governor, were shortly after this event taken prisoners at He a 
la Pierre. M. Vignal was so severely wounded that they saw it 
w r ould be useless to bring him into their country ; they there- 
fore put him to death, and having roasted his flesh, devoured it. 
M. Brigeart was cured of his wounds and cared for till quite 
recovered. He was then brought into the Indian territory and 
put to death with inconceivable barbarity. 

The Providence of God, however, ordained that none 
of Sister Bourgeoys' little band, nor of the Hospital Religious, 
were ever massacred by the Indians. Yet it was not from want of 
effort on the part of the Iroquois. Time and again they concealed 



MARGUERITE BOURCEOYS. 



207 



themselves in the mustard fields near the house, where the tall 
plants hid them from sight, hoping thus to surprise the religious. 
Meanwhile, divers changes took place in the government of the 
colony. The company of Ville-Marie had been dissolved, and 
given place to the seminary of Saint Sul pice, which out of respect 
for the memory of M. Oiier, agreed to assume the responsibility 
and defray the expenses of the settlement. The government of 
the Island, the right of administering justice, and also of ap- 
pointing a governor, therefore devolved upon the Seminary. 
But in 1663, a royal seneschal was appointed. M. de Mesy 
held the office of Governor-General, and at his option permitted 
M. de Maisonneuve to retain his office. During the year that 
followed, M. de Maisonneuve had much to suffer from his su- 
perior. But he suffered silently, bravely and humbly, rather re- 
joicing in his trials than complaining of them. 

In 1664, the Sieur Latouche was named his successor, and de 
Maisonneuve was recalled to France. He submitted and re- 
turned to die among the people of his race, but he bitterly felt 
his separation from the people of his adoption. For them he 
had sacrificed himself ; for them he had labored ; and when he 
left them, it was to return nevermore among them. He left his 
heart, indeed, beside the St. Lawrence, but he was never again 
to put foot upon its wooded shores. The people were loud in their 
demonstrations of grief at his departure. They openly mourned 
the man who had shared their early dangers and privations, and 
ruled them with paternal tenderness. Many far-sighted persons 
saw in his recall new troubles for the colony. 

The Confraternity of the Holy Family was established, by 
which Christian families bound themselves to imitate the family 
of Nazareth. Sister Morin was, also, solemnly received into the 
community of the Hotel Dieu, and the Bishop's permission for 
this ceremony was looked upon as a tacit recognition of that 
Order. Marguerite Bourgeoys and her Sisters were present, and 
sang the solemn chants proper to the occasion. In 1665, how- 



208 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



ever, Louis XIV., annoyed by various complaints of differences 
in Canada, sent thither M. de Courcelle, and M. Talon, the one 
as Governor-General, the other as Intendant of the country. 
All civil matters were given into their hands, and upon such 
they were to decide definitely. M. Talon restored to the Sem- 
inary the right of administering justice, and naming the gover- 
nor. M. de Maisonneuve would have been reappointed, but 
age had begun to tell upon the vigorous frame cf the first gov- 
ernor. The nomination of the Sieur Latouche was declared in- 
valid, and de Bretonvilliers was appointed in his place. 

These two gentlemen having also examined into the work of 
the various communities, gave the fullest approval to that of 
Marguerite Bourgeoys and Melle. Mance. They advised the 
people to hold a meeting, and send a petition to the king, ask- 
ing letters-patent for the recognition of these communities. 
This the people did. 

One of the first acts of the new governor was to bring thither 
some more Sulpicians, amongst whom came M. de Queylus, 
who had been for some years absent from the colony. The 
Sulpicians were also allowed to establish missions among the 
Indians, which had hitherto been the exclusive privilege of the 
Jesuits. 

Meanwhile Marguerite and her companions were carrying on 
the work of education. Two Iroquois children were, amongst 
others, confided to their care. So attached did these girls become 
to their teachers, that once, when the mother of one of them 
came within a short distance of the house to coax her away, she 
would not go. She, indeed, ran towards her mother. But one 
of the Sisters, who had followed, held out her arms, and the 
child leaving her mother, ran back to the Sisters. 

It was a chief part of their mission to fit young girls for their 
various positions in society. Sister Bourgeoys and her com- 
panions labored indefatigably to ground them solidly in piety, 
in love of industry and in all the virtues which adorn any station ; 



MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS. 



howsoever lowly or exalted. The good Sisters received those 
of all classes, saying that the Blessed Virgin had received shep- 
herds and kings with equal affection, but that if any preference 
were to be shown, it must be for the poor, after the example of 
the Blessed Mother and her Divine Son, who attended the wed- 
ding of Cana, because the young couple were poor. 

Those young girls who had finished their education at the 
boarding school, which Marguerite, at the earnest solicitation of 
all classes had opened, were kept under its happy influence by the 
Congregation Externe, or Sodality. This Society was under 
the patronage of Notre Dame de la Victoire, and as such still 
exists in many Churches of Canada. 

Sister Bourgeoys also established a house called the Provi- 
dence, wherein poor girls were instructed in every department 
of useful labor. She willingly received into her own house all 
such women, young or old, who desired to spend a short time 
apart from the world, following the exercises of a Retreat. An- 
other most useful part of the Sisters' duty was to protect those 
young girls who were brought from France to become the wives 
of the colonists. To them Sister Bourgeoys was more than a 
mother, tender, prudent, and loving. 

All this time the little band of toilers led a poor and most mor- 
tified life, having barely the necessary sustenance. A grant 
was finally given them of sixty French acres of land, near Lake 
St. Joseph. There Sister Bourgeoys established a farm, that it 
might in some measure provide for the wants of the little com- 
munity. In 1657 she built a house upon the ground adjoining 
the stable, in which they still lived, and bought a small house 
near by. Even this proved insufficient for their needs, and at 
the earnest request of the community, and of many other ad- 
visers, Sister Bourgeoys built a large and spacious house, which 
when completed was so fine that it caused her many scruples. 
It seemed to her inconsistent with their vow of poverty. At this 
time, Marguerite promised Our Lady that the Church so long 



2IO 



WOMEX OF CA TH0L1CITY. 



before begun should be completed. Though the promise could 
not be exactly carried out at the time, she began the erection of 
a small wooden chapel upon the former site. This became a 
shrine of great devotion for the people, and miraculous cures 
were said to be performed there. 

Sister Bourgeoys now made a second voyage to Europe; in 
the first place to present the petition of the people for letters- 
patent that her community might be founded; and in the second 
to secure some new members. Thanks to the power and influence 
of the celebrated Colbert, Marguerite obtained the letters-patent. 
She also brought back with her, on her return to Canada, six new 
companions. On this occasion a statue was presented to her by 
M. Louis Lepretre and M. Denis, for the new Church of Bon Se- 
cours. By praying before this statue a French gentlemen named 
Fancamp was miraculously cured, and made Sister Bourgeoys 
a donation of 30 pistoles toward the building of the church. 

Soon after her return to Canada, she obtained permission 
to begin the church. On the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, 
June 29th, a procession went thither, the spot was blessed, and 
the corner-stone laid. Upon the stone was placed a leaden 
plate, with an inscription dedicating the edifice to Mary, under 
the title of the Assumption. A Sulpician was appointed in per- 
petuity its chaplain. 

In 1676 the congregation was at last recognized by Mgr. de 
Laval, to the great joy not only of the Sisters themselves but of 
the people of Montreal. They were to be a community of 
Secular Ladies, taking no solemn vows, nor being in any degree 
cloistered. The Bishop soon after sailed for France, and Sister 
Bourgeoys made a third voyage thither, to obtain from him an 
approval of their rules. She also hoped to induce him to ex- 
amine the rules of other communities like theirs. But she was 
totally unsuccessful. Monseigneur de Laval prohibited her 
from bringing over any more French aspirants, and deferred 
any formal approval of their rules. 



MARGUERITE BO URGE O YS. 



2 1 1 



On the homeward voyage, Sister Bourgeoys was intrusted 
with the care of a number of young girls, who were to be the 
wives of colonists. When the vessel had got midway across 
the ocean, an English man-of-war came into sight. As France 
and England were then at war, the captain was much alarmed, 
exclaiming : "We are lost ! we are lost!" The greatest conster- 
nation prevailed alike amongst passengers and crew. Sister 
Bourgeoys alone remained calm, saying: "If we are taken, we 
will go to England or Holland, where we will find God, as 
everywhere else." The people, somewhat reassured by her 
composure, joined her in prayer. It was Sunday and a priest, 
who was on board, said Mass. Scarcely had he finished, when 
a favorable wind came up, and bore them cut of reach of the 
enemy. A Te Deum was sung, and fervent thanksgivings 
offered to God. 

Not long after Sister Bourgeoys' return, the house of the 
Congregation was burned to the ground. Monseigneur de Lav- 
al believing their revival hopeless, again urged Marguerite with 
her companions to join the Ursulines. She replied humbly but 
firmly that their mission was quite incompatible with the rules 
of a cloistered community, and that it would be impossible, 
His Lordship did not insist, and Marguerite continued receiv- 
ing new candidates. To each one on entering she said: "My 
dear sister, be ever meek, humble and poor." 

In 1676, a mission was established at the mountain for the 
instruction of the savages. The Fathers of St. Surplice were in 
charge of the boys, and the Sisters of the Congregation in charge 
of the girls. They held their classes at first in huts of bark ; 
but when the village had grown to a comparatively great size, and 
become an object of hatred to the unconverted Iroquois, M. 
Belmont constructed a fort and gave the two towers thereof to 
the Sisters of the Congregation. The visitor to Montreal at the 
present day, beholding these towers, asks what relics of the past 
they are. He is told that they are the towers wherein Marguerite 



212 



WOMEN OF CA THOLIClTY. 



Bourgeoys and her saintly sisters, in the early days of the colony, 
taught the Indian children on the wooded slopes of Mont 
Royale. 

The Mission grew and grew ; the savages flocked thither in 
numbers, and gradually being converted, led a life of almost 
evangelic pefection. The little chapel built there by M. 
Belmont was never empty. At all hours of the day, some of 
the savages were to be found in prayer before the altar. Sister 
Bourgeoys young pupils made wonderful progress in the 
Christian life ; they gradually adopted the dress of civilized peo- 
ple, and with the dress their habits and mode of thought; Besides 
their religious training and the ordinary course of instruction, 
they were taught to knit and sew, and many other useful works. 
When grown to womanhood, not a few desired to embrace the 
religious life. They were seldom admitted, however, and with 
the greatest caution ; yet those who were edified even their white 
sisters by their fervor and humility. One Indian Sister, Marie 
Barbe Attontinon, during twelve years spent in religion, was a 
model to the whole community. She died at the age of thirty- 
five and was buried in the Parish Church of Montreal, under 
the Chapel of the infant Jesus. Another called Gannensagouas, 
who took the name of Marie-Therese, became a religious, and 
died in the odor of sanctity, on the 25th of November, 1695, 
at the age of 28. Her grave is under one of the towers before 
mentioned, now used as a chapel. Her tomb is to be seen with 
the inscription in French : 

Here Rests 
The Mortal Remains 
of 

Marie-Therese Gannensagouas, 
of the Congregation de Notre Dame. 

' ' After having for thirteen years held the office of teacher of 



MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS. 



213 



the school of the mountain, she died with the reputation of 
great virtue, on the 25th of November, 1695, aged 28 years." 

Such were the first pupils of the Mountain Mission. And 
the mission grew and grew. The king of France, charmed 
with the accounts of its wonderful success, gave to the Sisters 
of the Congregation entire charge of the Missions among 
the Iroquois. If space permitted, we might quote many valu- 
able testimonies of the esteem in which the saintly Marguerite 
Bourgeoys was held by the representatives of the French court. 
The rules of her institute, which left her and her sisters free to 
go from place to place, instructing and converting the savages, 
were highly commended. M. de Meulles, Intendant of Cana- 
da, and many others bear witness to this, in their official re- 
ports. How sweet a sight it must have been to see the Sceur 
Bourgeoys and her companions, surrounded by the dusky 
children of the soil, in those old stone towers,under the shadow 
of Mont Royale, and in view of the dark blue river. However, 
other missions were established in various places. In some of 
them, Sister Bougeoys herself tells us that they had neither mat- 
tress, nor pillows, nor covering of any kind. A few of these 
were interrupted by the war which the Iroquois still continued 
to wage against the colonists. However, many of them still 
pursued their work, and amongst these latter was the Mission of 
lTle d'Orleans, whither Sister Anne Hioux and Sister Marie 
Barbier were sent. The latter was one of the first Canadian Sis- 
ters received. On their arrival they were obliged to lodge in a 
house with men, women and servants. This they felt to be a 
great hardship, accustomed as they were to the cloistral privacy 
of their little home. " The church," as Sister Marie Barbier 
writes, "was a quarter of a league's distance," and returning 
thence on cold and stormy evenings, half frozen and thinly 
clad, they could not approach the fire, on account of the num- 
ber of people. One dark, lowering afternoon, the Sisters were 
returning homewards. The drifting snow blinded them, and 



214 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



great masses of it lay in their path. Sister Hioux, missing her 
footing, fell into a ditch by the roadside. Sister Barbier, un- 
conscious of the accident, went on. Night was approaching, 
no help was near, the snow began to pile above her. In vain 
she called for help, till at last some peasants chanced to hear, 
and supposing that some of their cattle had fallen into the 
ditch, ran thither. They drew her out, but left her upon the 
roadside, and she was obliged to stagger blindly homewards, 
weary, exhausted, and benumbed. But full of the spirit of 
their institute, and inspired by the example of their heroic 
foundress, these apostolic women recked little of such hard- 
ships as these. The mission at Tile d'Orleans met with marked 
success. The labors of the Sisters were much needed. The 
young girls of the vicinity were lax in their ideas, disedifying in 
their mode of life, and light in their conduct. In a word, they 
had little of either principle or religion. At first they laughed 
at the Sisters, ridiculed their ideas and way of life, but by de- 
grees they learned to love and respect them, gradually they 
were induced to become members of the Congregation Externe, 
or Sodality, and were soon models to all the neighboring fami- 
lies. A house was built for the Sisters, some land was granted 
them, and a permanent mission was founded. 

They also made great progress in the city of Quebec. A 
house, with a court and garden, was given them, in the Upper 
Town, by the Vicar Apostolic, M. de Saint Vallier. Sister 
Barbier was placed at the head of this new establishment. 
Great reforms were made by them among the young girls of 
Quebec, who soon pledged themselves to renounce all frivolous 
or immodest styles of dress, and adopt those which were more 
moderate, more Christian, and more in harmony with the 
opinions of their teachers. Monseigneur de Saint Vallier pro- 
posed that the Sisters should undertake a sort of general hospi- 
tal, such as existed in many portions of France. It was to 
contain a number of mendicants, who were to be there preserved 



MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS. 



2I 5 



from the dangers of idleness, and provided with work. Sister 
Bourgeoys came to Quebec, at M. de Saint Valliers request. 
She made the journey on foot, braving the inclemency of a 
Canadian winter, and having to endure its full rigors. Some- 
times she had to walk upon the ice, in water, or to drag her- 
self on her knees through the snow. But the dauntless heart 
of the ardent apostle never failed. It was neither the first nor 
the last journey which she made in such a way. So the Hos- 
pital was founded, and the Sisters placed in charge of it. Sis- 
ter Bourgeoys herself carried thither much of the furniture and 
utensils necessary for the household. 

The hospital eventually passed into the hands of the Hospi- 
talieres, who, by the nature of their rules were more suited to 
such an undertaking. The Sisters had much to contend with 
in Quebec. A house was purchased for them in the Upper 
Town, but as the Ursulines were established there, and as their 
mission was in many respects similar, Sister Bourgeoys feared 
that settling so near seemed like an intrusion. A house was 
therefore taken in the Lower Town, and the Sisters were led 
to expect that they would not be pressed for payment. But 
the proprietor demanded the sum due at a very early date. The 

Note. — The following extract from a non-Catholic source may be of 
interest to our readers, bearing as it does upon the subject of our sketch. 

"The portrait of Maguerite Bourgeoys has come down to us ; and her 

face is a mirror of frankness, loyalty and womanly tenderness 

It was not until the year 1653, that renouncing an inheritance, and giving 
all she had to the poor, she embarked for the savage scene of her labors. 
To this day in crowded school-rooms in Montreal and Quebec, fit monu- 
ments of her unobtrusive virtue, her successors instruct the children of 
the poor, and embalm the pkasant memory of Maguerite Bourgeoys. In 
the martial figure of Maisonneuve, and the fair form of this gentle nun, 

we find the true heroes of Montreal The spirit of Godfrey de 

Bouillon lived again in Chomodey de Maisonneuve, and in Marguerite 
Bourgeoys was realized that fair ideal of Christian womanhood, a flower 
of earth expanding in the rays ot heaven, which soothed with gentle in- 
fluence the wildness of a barbarous age." — Atlantic Monthly, June, 1867. 



2 I 6 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



Sisters told him that it was impossible, but he would not be 
put off. Almost in despair, they sent for Sister Bourgeoys. 

She came to Quebec, and finding every resource unavailing, 
went to the Jesuit Chapel of the Blessed Virgin, and throwing 
herself on her knees before the statue, said : " Blessed Mother, 
I can do no more.'' Coming out she met a person at the 
door, who offered her the money necessary to pay the debt: he 
added that the Sisters need not pay him any interest, and that 
the money could remain with them as long as his affairs were 
prosperous. But he wished the matter kept secret. 

Sister Bourgeoys' confidence in God was most remarkable. 
Sometimes the Sisters would tell her that they could not get 
the supper for want of provisions. Marguerite invariably re- 
plied. c< Proceed with your work, provisions will come, '' and 
it was so, in every case. Sometimes when the meal or grain 
seemed growing painfully less, Marguerite prayed beside it, 
and it visibly multiplied. 

Meanwhile, other missions were formed at Chateau-Richets, La 
Chine and Pointeaux Trembles. But, as before mentioned, their 
house in Viile-Marie was reduced to ashes. So terrible and so swift 
was the passage of the flames, that two of the Sisters, Genevieve 
Durosoy and Marguerite Soumillard, a niece of Sister Bourgeoys, 
perished therein. Sister Bourgeoys mourning for her spiritual 
daughters, was rejoiced at burning of the house, which she had 
always regarded as inconsistent with their spirit of poverty. 

The priests of the Seminary had meanwhile resolved to erect a 
new building for themselves in what was called the Upper Town. 
The Sisters,also, possessed some land up there, which would afford 
them sufficient space for a garden. They had a great inducement 
to build there, from the fact that it closely adjoined the Hotel 
Dieu, or Convent of the Hospital Sisters. Even before the fire, 
the subject of building on that side had been under considera- 
tion, but after the fire it became a necessity to build somewhere. 
Thev had scarcely anv other means than the five hundred 



MARGUERITE B OCR GEO VS. 



217 



pounds granted them by the French government. Sister Bour- 
geoys, nevertheless, began the building. She and her Sisters 
signed a document by which they pledged themselves to be 
more faithful than ever to the evangelical perfection at which 
they aimed, if God would assist them in erecting their house. 
Help came from all quarters. The people of Ville-Marie seemed 
fairly to delight in assisting them. Before long the house 
stood large, solid, regular, a monument to all time of their 
confidence in God and its reward. Once settled in their new 
house, they were most anxious to build a church upon their 
grounds, They were totally without means for such an under- 
taking, but money came in, in a manner almost miraculous. 
Melle. Le Ber, the daughter of one of the richest merchants in 
Canada, gave them almost ail the means necessary for its con- 
struction. Of this extraordinary person, we shall hereafter 
give a short account. The building progressed rapidly, and 
yet the Sisters, full of a holy impatience, began a novena that 
the time might be shortened, till the Blessed Sacrament should 
come to them. On the night after the novena had ended, 
by a singular coincidence, a fire took in the neighboring Con- 
vent of the Hotel Dieu. It was feared, for some time, that the 
new church and convent of the Congregation would go, too. 
But so earnestly did the Sisters pray, that the wind changed, 
and the fire went in the opposite direction. Father Denys, a 
Recollect monk, saved the Blessed Sacrament from the flames, 
and bore it into the house of the Congregation ; great was their 
joy, that the Lord had come to dwell with them. At dawn 
they received the Sisters of the Hotel Dieu, who remained with 
them nine months. 

On the 6th of August grand Mass was said in the new 
church, and the church blessed, after which they remained 
forevermore in possession of their Divine Guest. Sister Bour- 
geoys herself composed a formula of thanksgiving, in token of 
their fervent gratitude. 



2l8 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



It may not be uninteresting to refer again, as promised, to 
the story of Melle. Le Ber, so famed for her extraordinary vir- 
tues. She was educated by the Ursulines at Quebec. At the age 
of seventeen, she made a vow of chastity for five years. Mean- 
while she became very intimate with the Sisters of the Congre- 
gation, and frequented their house, growing constantly in holi- 
ness. She led the life of a recluse at home, never going forth, 
except to Church. When the new Church of the Congregation 
was in course of erection, she caused a sort of cell to be built 
for her future use. It consisted of three stories, on the lower 
of which was a little grating, at which she made her confessions, 
and received Communion. The day before the blessing of the 
church, the ceremony of her reclusion took place. The 
Vicar-General and a number of the clergy were present, as well 
as the Sisters of the Congregation, and her father, M. Jacques 
Le Ber. He, however, was so overcome by emotion, that he 
retired before the actual ceremony had begun. It was the 
Feast of Notre Dame des Neiges, August 5th, 1695. The 
procession of priests and others, holding lighted tapers, ad- 
vanced to the cell, chanting psalms and litanies. The apart- 
ments were blessed ; Melle. Le Ber, clad in a robe of gray 
serge, fastened by a black girdle, knelt, whilst M. DolHer pro- 
nounced a few words of exhortation. She arose at their con- 
clusion, M. Dollier led her to the cell, and she shut herself 
in forevermore from the eyes of men. Her food was brought, 
and passed in to her through a little opening. In her room 
was a grating, whence she could see the altar. There she re- 
mained till death, no doubt drawing down great blessings upon 
the house, the city of Ville-Marie, and the whole country of 
Canada. 

But the Sisters of the Congregation now met with a singular 
trial. A certain Sister Tardy, led astray by pious delusions, 
formed a sort of chimerical plan of uniting under the same 
rules, the three communities of Saint Sulpice, the Hotel Dieu ; 



MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS, 



219 



and the Congregation. She believed herself supernaturally en- 
lightened as to the interior dispositions of persons communi- 
cating ; she declared that dead persons frequently appeared to 
her. Once she told Sister Bourgeoys that one of the dead 
religious had appeared and warned her that Marguerite Bour- 
geoys was no longer fit to be their superior. 

To all this Sister Bourgeoys at first paid little heed. At a 
later period, however, Sister Tardy again declared that the 
same dead nun had bade her tell their superior that she was in 
the way of damnation. The latter, whose humility was easily 
alarmed, begged of the Sisters to elect another in her place. 
This she had done before. Once, when on the eve of departing 
for France. But the Sisters with one voice cried out that the 
Blessed Virgin was their Superior, but that Sister Bourgeoys 
must continue to govern in her name. To this declaration they 
added such tears and entreaties that the superior was moved, 
and consented to remain in office, kneeling first with her Sis- 
ters, to place their institute in a special manner under the 
direction of Mary, Again, she had so far prevailed upon them, 
that they were in the act of choosing either Genevieve Durosoy, 
or Marguerite Soumillaid, when both were burned, and the 
election was abandoned. 

Such was her interior desolation, at the so-called visions of 
Sister Tardy,that she persuaded the Sisters to elect Anne Hioux 
in her place. But Anne Hioux died, and the election was 
again laid aside. Sister Bourgeoys now begged of the Vicar 
Apostolic, M. de Saint Vallier, to choose another superior, but 
he refused. Meanwhile, these pretended revelations of Sister 
Tardy produced a bad effect among some members of the Con- 
gregation, and even a few Sulpicians were led astray by these 
dreams of a chimerical state of perfection. M. Tronson, the 
Superior of the Seminary, recalled two of these priests to France, 
nor would he permit them to return to Canada while under 
his jurisdiction. He acknowledged Sister Tardy's piety and 



2 20 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



holiness of life, but severely condemned her absurd delusions. 
She hastened to France to lay the case before him, and never 
returned to Ville-Marie. Peace was finally restored in the three 
communities, principally through the wisdom and firmness of 
M. Tronson, and all went on as before, though the mistaken 
zeal of misguided persons had threatened all three with ruin. 

The House of the Congregation continued to be the scene of 
innumerable good works. It united within its walls, as Sister 
Bourgeoys herself remarks, "the three types of women upon 
earth after the Resurrection. Melle. Le Ber represented Mag- 
dalen, leading an entirely contemplative life ; the Hospital Sis- 
ters were as Martha, serving their neighbor in the cloister, and 
the Congregation as the Blessed Virgin, leading a life of apos- 
tolic zeal, but without being cloistered." Before the Hospital 
Sisters returned to their own house, a spiritual alliance was 
entered into, between the two communities, by which they 
bound themselves to be but " of one heart and one soul," work- 
ing, each according to their rules for the same end. 

Sister Bourgeoys at length persuaded the Sisters to allow her 
to lay aside her charge, upon which occasion she spoke to them 
thus: " There is no more to be said of me, but as of a wretch 
who, having been unfaithful to the charge so lovingly confided 
to me, deserves great punishment, which must be increased 
because of the pain which my laxity has caused you. I ask 
your pardon, and the assistance of your prayers. Remedy it, 
though, as speedily as possible. You must at once change 
your superior, who, being elected must see that every rule, even 
to the smallest, is exactly kept, for otherwise what is there differ- 
ent in this community, from what is done by persons in the world 
who live in a Christian manner ? Maintain among you that spirit 
which you should have, of poverty, contempt of self obedience, 
and entire abandonment of self into the hands of God." 

Sister Barbier was elected, and Sister Bouigeoys was at length 
freed from the interior trouble which had so long oppressed her 



MARGUERITE BOURGEO VS. 



221 



But the old question of uniting their institute with that of the 
Ursulines, was revived. A religious Order which was not clois- 
tered, and took no solemn vows, was a novelty in the Church. 
Even the ecclesiastical authorities looked on it with distrust. 
Hence, though Sister Bourgeoys had been forty years in Canada 
no set of rules had yet been approved. She begged of M. de 
Valens, their director, to frame rules, which were offered to the 
Vicar-Apostolic, Monseigneur de Saint-Vallier. He gave them 
rules which were almost precisely like those of the Ursulines, 
tending thus towards the amalgamation of the two Orders. At 
the entreaty of M. Tronson, he afterwards modified them some- 
what, and the sisters accepted them. On the 24th of June, 
1678, all the sisters signed a written acceptance. On the fol- 
lowing day, Monseigneur de Saint-Vallier, M. Dollier, Superior 
of the Seminary of Ville-Marie and others assisted at the taking 
of the simple vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, in the 
chapel of the Congregation. Each Sister, then, took a name, 
that of Marguerite Bourgeoys, being Saint Sacrament, and 
that of Sister Barbier, Sceur de 1' Assumption. A new superior 
was elected, Sceur Marguerite du Saint Esprit. At a somewhat 
later period they assembled, and took a vow of stability, though 
their rule did not make this of obligation. Many spiritual favors 
w^ere also granted them by his Lordship of Quebec. 

But we must not linger over the progress of the little com- 
munity, from which Sister Bourgeoys henceforth lived detached, 
having no part in its counsels, save at the elections. She wrote 
about this time, or at least completed, the valuable manuscript 
upon the perfection of her Order. In it she gives a detailed 
account of the events of her life, from her childhood in Troves, 
to the years preceding her death. When in her seventy-ninth 
year, she was caken violently ill, but through the fervent prayers 
of the Sisters, her life was spared. A short time after, Catherine 
Churly, in religion Sceur du Saint Ange, then Mistress of Nov- 
ices, was reduced to the last extremity, received the last Sacra- 



224 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



As regards the actual facts of her life we have finished, but 
a difficult task remains, namely, to sum up in a few words her 
extraordinary virtues. Her wonderful austerities alone, taken 
in detail, might occupy whole pages. She never partook of 
any food, save the coarsest and least templing; and even then 
destroyed its taste by mingling it with ashes or salt, or what- 
ever might be most repugnant to her. She ate her meals in 
a penitential posture, standing on one foot, or half sitting. 
On Fridays she took but one meal, and on good Friday, that 
one prostrate on the floor. In summer, she drank water but 
once a day, even when consumed by a raging thirst. In winter 
she never approached the fire, and bore the inclemencies or the 
weather without protecting herself against them. Her body was 
lacerated by her cruel use of the discipline, and she wore, besides, 
a cap bristling with pins, which pierced her head. She passed great 
portion of the night in prayer, and by the fervor and frequency of 
most efficacious prayers, was the powerful support ofthecolony. * 

So attractive was her countenance that it won all hearts. Pure, 
gentle, resplendent with a holy love of God, and a fervent zeal for 
her neighbor, she never failed to attract all who came in contact 
with her. This zeal for her neighbor was, perhaps, her predomi- 
nant characteristic. It had induced her to leave home and 
friends and dwell in the wilds of a New World; and it constantly 
impelled her to undertake wonderful practices of austerity for his 
sake, so that frequently depriving herself of the very necessaries of 
life, she exhausted herself in prayer. She burned with an ar- 
dent charity, and was consumed by an apostolic zeal which 
left her no rest. Her humility, her sweetness, her prudence 
were unparalleled. Such was her wisdom that it aided materially 
in guiding the infant colony through troublous times ; so ad- 
mirable were her prudence and forethought, that M. de Mais- 
onneuve in many matters concerning the government, relied 

* This account is almost verbatim from the " Vie de la Sceur Bourgeoys," 
by M. de Failloux,Vol. I., p. 191. 



MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS. 



225 



upon her judgment ; such was her sweetness, that it made her 
universally beloved ; so delightful was her conversation, and 
such was the charm of her grave, modest, yet winning demean- 
or that it impressed every one who approached her. 

We would willingly continue at greater length ; we would 
gladly dwell upon her great services to the land of her adoption 
the extraordinary position assigned her in the temporal affairs of 
the little colony, in a word, her wonderful labors in the cause of 
religion and humanity. Let the countless wives and daughters 
whom she and her Sisters have educated, and brought up in 
the path of holiness, let the numberless virgins whom her in- 
spiring example have induced to choose the better part, bear 
testimony. Testimonies from other sources are not wanting, 
but they flow in with such abundance, that we dare not begin 
to quote them. Many miraculous cures were wrought after 
her death, by praying at her tomb, or touching her body, but 
of all these things note has been taken by the Sacred College of 
Rites, which has recently declared her Venerable, that being 
but the first step to her Canonization. But they are likewise 
engraven on many hearts, and to-day when the institute she 
founded has become one of the most important and flourishing 
on this Continent, her name remains to Canadians, to her spiritual 
daughters, and to their pupils as a most precious legacy. Scarce 
a month after her death, M. de Belmont spoke of her, with al- 
most entire certainty, as being glorious in heaven, and thence 
watching over her community. Let us then hope that for well 
nigh two centuries she has been among the blessed, an all- 
powerful advocate for the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre 
Dame, for their pupils, for Montreal, for Canada, and for 
America. Forests that in her day covered the land like vast 
and dark cathedrals, have disappeared ; the Indian whom she 
taught, and whom, in those distant times, the white man so 
justly feared, has turned his back upon the rising sun, and 
hastened tribe after tribe towards the far West. The white man 



226 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



now rules the land, the savage scarce maintains a national 
existence, the blue, untroubled stream which winds downwards 
to the gulf of its own name, has became a great commercial 
medium, and the foot of the explorer has penetrated even to the 
far North-West. [Montreal is a city fairly bristling with the 

Note. — We subjoin a pretty description of the landing of the Founders 
of Montreal from a prominent non-Catholic periodical. 

"On the 17th of May. 1642. Maisonneuve's little flotilla approached 
Montreal, and all on board raised in unison a hymn of praise. Montmagny 
was with them to deliver the Island to Maisonneuve, Representative of the 
Associates of Montreal. And here too was Father Vimont (Jesuit), Superior 
of the Missions. 

" They landed on a tongue or triangle of land, formed by the 

junction of a rivulet with the St. Lawrence. The rivulet was bordered by 
a meadow, and beyond rose the forest with its vanguard of scattered 
trees. Early spring flowers were blooming in the young grass, and birds 
of varied plumage flitted among the boughs. 

" Maisonneuve sprang ashore, and fell on his knees. His followers 
imitated his example; and all joined their voices in enthusiastic songs of 
thanksgiving. . . . An altar was raised on a pleasant spot near at hand and 
decorated with a taste which was the admiration of the beholders. Now 
all the company gathered before the shrine. Here stood Vimont in the 
rich vestments of his office. Here were the two ladies (Melle. Mance and 
Madame de la Peltrie with their servant, Charlotte Barre); Montagny, no 
very willing spectator; and Maisonneuve. a warlike figure, erect and tall, his 
men clustering around him. soldiers, sailors, artisans, and laborers, — all 
alike soldiers at need. They kneeled in reverent silence as the Host was 
raised aloft; and when the rite was over, the priest turned and addressed 
them: — 'You are a grain of mustard-seed that shall rise and grow till its 
branches overshadow the earth. You are few, but your work is the work 
of God. His smile is on you, and your children shall fill the land. 

"The afternoon waned ; the sun sank behind the western forest, and 
twilight came on. Fire-flies were twinkling over the darkened meadow. 
They caught them, tied them with threads into shining festoons, and hung 
them before the altar, where the Host remained exposed. Then they 
pitched their tents, lighted their bivouac fires, stationed their guards and 
lay down to rest. Such was the birthnight of Montreal. 

"Is this true history or a romance of Christian chivalry ? It is both." — 

Atlantic Monthly, June, 1867, Article on <; the Founders of Montreal" 



MA R G UERITE B O UR GE O VS. 



22 7 



steeples and domes and turrets of many temples, where once 
Notre Dame de Bon Secours stood the only church of stone. 
Convents, colleges, and seminaries arise in majestic proportions. 
Villa Maria, the celebrated Convent of the Sisters of the Con- 
gregation, stands higher on the mountain side than where rose 
of yore the Indian Mission. The site of the latter is now occu- 
pied by the magnificent college and seminary of St, Sulpice ; 
before it, venerable from the weight of years, touching in their 
diminutiveness, stand the towers wherein Sister Bourgeoys taught 
her Indian schools. One is in use for a chapel, and thus they 
remain, a veritable "message from the past."' The Sisters of 
the Hotel Dieu have a splendid building, wherein, as of old, the 
poor and sick are tended with loving hands. And so it has 
fared in the course of years with the three communities, which, 
as it was revealed to M. Olier, were to represent or especially 
honor in Canada, the Holy Family. 

And Marguerite Bourgeoys, in the old community building 
on one of the main streets of this populous city, lies at rest. 
Various rulers have succeeded each other in the land, English 
and French, Protestant and Catholics, but she slumbers peaceful- 
ly, while the Queen city of the North has risen around her, and 
those whom she knew as infants, are the distant ancestors of the 
people that throng its thickly populated streets. Her name 
and memory are to the faithful a thing of joy, a precious mem- 
ory. Her institute is flourishing, her daughters follow in her 
path, and teach to the children of various races and often times 
of opposite creeds, what Marguerite Bourgeoys taught of eld, 
when her classes were liable to interruption by Iroquois invasion. 

Foremost amongst those illustrious heroines, who adorn the 
history of the Church, great of soul, dauntless of courage, ardent 
of charity, the Venerable Marguerite Bourgeoys stands, worthy 
to have lived in the apostolic times of the Church, worthy the 
love and veneration of the faithful, and the reverence even of an 
unbelieving world. 



220 



W'OMEX OF CATHOLICITY. 



On the 2d of February, the Feast of the Purification of the 
year 1879, tne announcement that she was declared Venerable, 
as a preliminary to canonization was celebrated in all the Churches 
of Montreal. A grand Te Deum was sung after High Mass 
and echoed and re-echoed through the vaulted arches of many 
temples. It was as if innumerable voices of great joy upbore 
the tidings. Hearts were thrilled with lofty enthusiasm, eyes 
grew moist, and history carried not a few backwards to the day 
when in the little colony then just springing into life on the 
shore of the St. Lawrence, Marguerite Bourgeoys first set foot, to 
be, as it w r ere, its guardian angel, and most powerful intercessor 
with God. But with what inexpressible joy, and fervent grati- 
tude, did her loving daughters of the Congregation hail her as 
Venerable. Throughout the many houses of the Order scat- 
tered over the Continent, the day upon which Rome recognized 
thus her extraordinary sanctity was one of great rejoicing and 
of high jubilee. May they before long rejoice at her canoniza- 
tion. * 



*We are indebted for much information to the Life of Sister Bourgeoys, 
by M. de Failloux, a priest of St. Sulpice. 






ff\sj 



While our country has a name, 
LeC us preserve our Aliens name. 

Ballad. 



Forth from the outer ranks she slept, 

The forfeit crown to claim, 
Of Christian souls who had ?iot kept 

Their birthright and their name. 
Grace formed her out of sinful dust. 

She knelt a soul defiled, 
She rose in all the faith and trust 

And sweetness of a child. 

Newman. 



Jibuti jCbtt $ Jsm^itr* 



The First American Nun. 




HE subject of our sketch necessarily opens up to our 
minds a chapter in the history of the American Revo- 
lution. It carries us back to the epoch when the Green 



Mountain Boys looked to the daring and enthusiastic Allen as 
their natural leader, and made the hills of their native Vermont 
ring with their battle-cry of freedom. We shall therefore, in the 
first place, take a glance at the principles which actuated the 
prime movers in the cause of independence, and discover, in 
brief, that they were free from that lawlessness and violence of 
motive and of action which commonly characterize revolution- 
ary leaders. Never was there a struggle of the kind so free from 
disorder, displaying so true a regard for the rights of others, 
and a disposition to be guided so entirely by the rule of justice. 
Any examination of the matter proves to us that the colonies at 
the time of their separation from Great Britain were long suf- 
fering. They had endured much from the mother country 
before they decided upon the desperate measure of indepen- 
dence. Thus in the ever memorable Congress held at Phila- 
delphia on the 5th of September, resolutions passed which were 
not only honorable to the men from whom they emanated, but 
a fitting model for all who are anxious to secure redress of 
political grievances. 'The object which called them together," 
says the America writer,* "was of incalculable magnitude. The 



* Wirt's life of Patrick Henry, 



232 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



liberties of no less than three millions of people,with that of all 
their posterity, were staked on the wisdom and energy of the 
councils." They declared as follows: That their "ancestors, who 
first settled in this country, were at the time of their emigration 
from the mother country, entitled to all the rights, liberties, and 
immunities of free and natural-born subjects within the realm 
of England ; that they had a right peaceably to assemble, con- 
sider their grievances and petition the king." That "in the course 
of our inquiry we find many infringements and violations of 
rights, which from an ardent desire that harmony and mutual 
intercourse of affection and interest may be restored, we may 
pass over for the present." Having bound themselves by agree- 
ment to abstain from all commercial relations with Great Britain, 
until their grievances should be redressed, they drew up ad- 
dresses to the sovereign and to the people of the mother country. 
From the latter we take the following extract : 

" You have been told that we are seditious, impatient of 
government, and desirous of independency. Be assured that 
these are not facts, but calumnies. Permit us to be as free as 
yourselves, and we shall ever esteem a union with you to be our 
greatest glory and happiness, and we shall ever be ready to 
contribute all in our power to the welfare of the whole empire ; 
we shall consider your enemies as our enemies, and your 
interests as our own." 

In this temper were these preliminaries conducted which 
culminated in that glorious struggle, the details whereof are 
so familiar to us. No sooner was the signal of war given than 
thousands of loyal men flew to arms, with the legitimate ob- 
ject of securing their just rights and liberties. The cause was 
a good one, and hence the calm determination which, spring- 
ing from this conviction, produced acts of valor so heroic and 
of courage desperate in the face of incredible privations. 

When the country was in such an attitude, it was by no means 
astonishing that a nature like that of Ethan Allen should find 



ETHAN ALLEN'S DAUGHTER. 



233 



its true level, and reach at once the position of leader amongst 
his compatriots. As we have said a few words of the causes of 
the Revolution, we shall now, before proceeding to the real sub- 
ject of our sketch, devote a page or two to a consideration of 
the character of Ethan Allen, and his position in American 
history. His early life seems shrouded in some obscurity, 
but an old town record of Litchfield, Connecticut, contains the 
following entry which proves him at least to have been born 
there : " Ethan Allen, ye son Joseph Allen and Mary his wife, 
was born January ye 10th, 1737." Joseph Allen subsequently 
removed with his family to Cornwall, Connecticut, where he 
died in 1755. He had six sons, of whom Ethan was the eldest, 
and two daughters. Of these six sons Ethan became the mili- 
tary hero of Vermont, as Ira its most influential citizen and 
foremost politician. An uncle, Remember Baker, also fig- 
ures among the heroes of the war of '76. Ethan himself ap- 
pears to have had but few advantages of education, and to 
have grown up in such a manner as to leave indeed his nat- 
ural good qualities wild and uncultured, and produce in his 
character a fungus growth of much that was deadly and poison- 
ous. Somewhere about the year 1762 he married his first wife, 
Mary Bronson, of Woodbury, Connecticut, residing for some 
years after, first at Salisbury and afterwards at Sheffield, Massa- 
chusetts. In 1766 he removed to what was then known as 
the Hampshire grants, afterwards Vermont, with which his 
name was destined to be -so indissolubly connected. With the 
question of the New Hampshire grants, he first came promi- 
nently before the public. He was at this time about thirty 
years of age, and is described in the following terms by a Ver- 
mont clergymen ;* 

"From what is known of him during that period, as well as 
from all traditions, it would appear that he was generally re- 



* Rev. Fadock Thompson, lecture upon the Allen Family. 



234 



WOMEN OF CA TH0L1CI TY. 



garded as a bold, spirited, somewhat reckless young man, pos- 
sessing unusual energy and independence of character; and that 
then, among the associates of his own age, he put himself for- 
ward, and was tacitly acknowledged as leader, a distinction to 
which he thought himself entitled at all periods of his life. It 
would appear that personal subordination on his own part never 
once entered into his thoughts. Much less did he feel any want 
of confidence in his own ability to plan, and execute too, any 
enterprise which was within the sphere of human achievement. " 

This famous controversy concerning the Xew Hampshire 
grants originated in a claim put forward by the State of Xew 
York to the possession of certain lands by previous grant. The 
matter was tried in various courts of law, and was in every case 
decided against Xew Hampshire. Ethan Allen throughout bore 
a prominent part in the dispute, but more especially after the ag- 
grieved New Hampshire settlers declared that they would if 
necessary settle the matter by force. When civil officers were 
sent thither with writs of ejectment, their reception was not en- 
couraging; they were seized by the inhabitants and " chastised 
with the twigs of the wilderness/' as contemporary writers ex- 
press it. The settlers were declared rioters, and a price put 
upon their leaders' head. Thus for the capture of Ethan Allen, 
a reward of 150 pounds was offered, being one hundred pounds 
more than for either of the others. This circumstance showed 
the estimation in which he was held by his foes. As for his 
friends, they already regarded him as their hero, and the Green 
Mountain Boys were ready to follow to the ends of the earth 
the bold and dauntless spirit who was soon after to acquire a 
binding claim upon the good will of his countrymen at large. 

At this juncture of affairs, occurred the memorable battle of 
Lexington, which was the initial contest of the Revolution. 
Ethen Allen had not so closely confined his attention to State 
affairs, as to be unable to follow with interest the relations 
between the mother country and the colonies which were daily 



ETHAN ALLEN'S DAUGHTER. 



2 35 



becoming more strained. When, in 1775, he was requested by 
Connecticut to undertake the capture of Ticonderoga, he accept- 
ed the offer with eagerness. To his bold and ardent nature such 
an enterprise was captivating, and the difficulties, which would 
have deterred any other man, only tempted him the more. 

He arrived at the lake opposite the fort with 180 of his 
Green Mountain Boys. It was on the evening of the 9th of May, 
1775, and the balminess of spring was in the air. Everything 
was still as death, and those lovely scenes in the vicinity of the 
Lake, then wilder and more luxuriant, were just fading in the 
late darkness of the season. When Ethan Allen and his Vermont- 
ers stood upon the shore, there was a delay in getting boats, the 
night was falling fast, midnight came, and but a small fraction 
of the little band of patriots had landed upon the farther bank. 
It was two in the morning and only 83 men had been rowed 
across. Ethen Allen recognized the fact that a short delay 
might be fatal to their hopes. He drew his men together and 
addressed them thus : 

" Friends and fellow-soldiers, you have for a number of years 
past been a scourge and terror to arbitrary power. Your valor 
has been famed abroad, and acknowledged, as appears by the 
advice and orders to me from the general assembly of Connect- 
icut. I now propose to advance before you, and in person con- 
duct you through the wicket gate ; for we must this morning 
either quit our pretensions to valor or possess ourselves of this 
fortress in a few moments; and inasmuch as it is a desperate 
attempt, which none but the bravest of men dare undertake, I 
do not urge it on any contrary 7 to his will. You that will under- 
take voluntarily poise your firelocks." 

Every firelock was raised and the devoted band pushed on to 
victory. The fortress which was the object of attack, stood 
upon a height rising some hundred feet above the tranquil 
waters. It was isolated by the fact that the lake surrounded 
it upon three sides, and a swamp upon the remaining one. The 



23 8 WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 

*' Like some old sachem from his den, 
He treads once more the haunts of men," * 

Says a writer of that day. He now received his commission as 
Lieutenant Colonel from Congress, but he never served again 
in the Continental Army. He continued, however, to aid his 
adopted State, the government of which had been organized in 
his absence ; and also had part in certain negotiations which 
were carried on with the British ministry, which paralyzed for 
three years the movements of the English Army. Allen was made 
Brigadier-General of Militia and was sent by the civil authorities 
to repress some uprising \of "Yorkers'' against the authority 
of Vermont. 

In or about 1 787 he moved to Burlington, where he purchased 
a beautiful piece of land, now known as the Van Ness farm. But 
in two years after his coming thither, the hand of death was 
laid upon him with awful suddenness. On an island known 
as South Hero — North and South Hero were so called after the 
Allen Brothers, — lived a certain Colonel Ebenezer Allen, who 
though no relation to his namesake, was nevertheless on terms of 
intimacy with him. On the 10th of February, 1789, Ethan went 
over to visit his friend, and to bring back with him, as agreed be- 
tween them, a load of hay for the horses. Ebenezer Allen, who 
had himself served in the Revolutionary war, invited in various 
old military acquaintances and others, in whose pleasant society 
Ethan Allen spent the last hours of his life. Urged to remain 
over night he refused, and mounting on the load of hay, which 
his black man was driving, he set out to cross the river on the 
ice. The servant spoke to him once or twice during the jour- 
ney but received no answer. When the cart arrived at Burling- 
ton the negro discovered with horror that his master was dead. 
Ira Allen thus chronicled the event in a letter to another brother 



* "From a sarcastic poem published at that time on Allen's escape, by 
some local writer. 



ETHAN ALLEN'S DAUGHTER. 



2 39 



Levi, who was then in London : U I arrived at Burlington on 
the nth of February, and was surprised with the solemn news 
of the death of General Allen, who departed this life that day 
in a fit of apoplexy. On the 1 6th his remains were buried with 
the honors of war. His military friends from Bennington and 
parts adjacent attended and the procession was truly solemn 
and numerous.'' He was buried in the graveyard at Wi- 
nooski Falls. 

Ethan Allen was twice married. By his first wife he had five 
children, with whom our present sketch is not concerned* By 
his second, whom he married in 1784, he had three, Ethan 
V., Hannibal and Fanny our heroine. The two sons held com- 
missions in the United States army. Of his wife, who some 
years after his death married Dr. Jabez Penniman, local chron- 
iclers speak in the highest terms. The marriage announce- 
ment which appeared in the Vermont Gazette of that year 
gives the following flattering notice of her: "Married at 
Westminster, on the 9th Feb., the Hon. General Ethan Allen 
to the amiable Mrs. Leydia Buchanan, a lady possessing in an 
eminent degree every graceful qualification requisite to render 
the hymenial bonds felicitous. " What the pompous pen of the 
primitive journalist here asserts was confirmed by the accounts 
of those who knew her well. Mrs Allen, whose maiden name, 
by the way, was not Leydia, but Frances or Fanny Montressor, 
appears to have been in many respects a superior woman. It 
is related that her influence over her distinguished husband was 
remarkable. She is represented us a person of cultivated tastes, 
brilliant fancy, and fine mind. She had the art of making 
home attractive, and of proving herself a delightful companion. 
It is recorded that she devoted much of her time to the study 
of botany, and had a rare collection of flowers in her beautiful 
garden. 

That Ethan Allen was in matters of religion an avowed 
skeptic is sad to relate. He was the only one of the revolu- 



2\0 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



tionary leaders against whom such a charge can be brought. 
He had been for many years intimate with a certain Dr. Thomas 
Young, who was at once a man of great abilities and a pro- 
fessed infidel, having even been arrested upon one occasion for 
his daring blasphemy. Unhappily, Ethan Allen, while still 
young, imbibed much if not all of his friend's pernicious sen- 
timents, nor does he seem to have abandoned them later in 
life, for some three years before his death he published his 1 1 Ora- 
cles of Reason, " a satire upon Moses and the prophets, which 
was commonly known as Allen's Theology or Allen's Bible. 
Of this book an anecdote is told that upon one occasion, Allen 
being present at some religious exercise, the preacher began to 
quote from Watts'' Hymns the version of the 119th Psalm 
therein contained : 

" Let all the heathen writers join, 

To form one perfect book: 
Great God, if once compared with thine, 

How mean their writings look." 

So indignant was Allen at this supposed reference to himself 
that he left the meeting house forthwith. Most of us are familiar 
with the story which has come down to us of Ethan Allen at 
the death-bed of his daughter, Lorain. It is said that the 
daughter, with the full solemnity of the moment upon her, asked 
her father if she should die in her mother's faith, or in his. 
To which he replied after a few moment's struggle that she 
must die in that which had been her mother's. Her mother 
the first Mrs. Allen, though educated in a heretical form of 
worship, had been a simple, devout believer in such fragments 
of truth as had fallen to her share. In an old newspaper of 
the time are some verses upon this affecting scene, the daugh- 
ter's question and the father's answer: 

et My father, shall I look above 
Amid this gathering gloom 



ETHAN ALLEN'S DAUGHTER. 



241 



To Him whose promisesof love 

Extend beyond the tomb. 
Or curse the Being who has blessed 

This checkered heart of mine ? 
Must I embrace my mother's faith 

Or die, my sire, in thine? " 

* * * * * * 

"Not, not in mine !'' with choking voice 

The skeptic made reply — 
" But in thy mother's holy faith. 

My daughter, must thou die ! " 

The answer no doubt of many a skeptic, were it always as 
truthfully given. Allen is credited also with a belief in the 
transmigration of souls. We are told that upon one occasion 
he was known to say, pointing to his white horse : "Well, 
that's the body that's waiting for my soul when it goes out of 
this life." 

The clergyman from whom we have before quoted, thus 
sums up the hero's character: "With regard to the general 
character of Ethan Allen, the conspicuous and commendable 
traits upon which his fame rests, were his unwavering patriotism, 
his love of freedom, his wisdom, boldness, courage, energy, 
perseverance, his aptitude to command, his ability to inspire 
these under him with respect and confidence, his high sense of 
honor and probity and justice, his generosity and kindness, his 
sympathy with the sufferings and the afflictions of others. 
Opposed to these good qualities were his self sufficiency, his 
personal vanity, his occasional rashness, and his sometimes 

harsh and vulgar language Allen's character, as a whole, 

was not unlike that of our native mountain forest scenery. It 
was wild and uncultivated, and at the same time exhibits much 
of the sublime and beautiful.'"' 

The poetry of Vermont is full of allusions to Ethan Allen, 
the name of the patriot leader appearing in countless poems. 



2^2 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



We quote from one of them, ''The Grave of Allen," by a 
poet of Vermont : 

" Upon Winooski's pleasant shore 
Brave Allen sleeps, 

And there beneath the murmuring pine 
Is freedom's consecrated shrine, 
And every patriot heart will swell 

* * ^ * 

As bending o'er that lowly grave 
He pays his homage to the brave. 

% ^ # * * * 

Our fathers struck for life and land : 

Their names are many : but among 

That matchless crowd, that fearless throng 

There's one that shines for us alone, 

Whose deathless glory is our own. 

His memory then should ever be 

Dear to our hearts as liberty ; 

And while our country has a name 

Let us preserve Our Allen's fame," 

This is but a specimen of the local poetry in his honor, and 
scarcely less than the monument of which we are about to speak 
keeps his memory green among the people of that State, which 
he contributed to render free and independent. The monu- 
ment was by an act of the local legislature, passed in November, 
1855, erected over his grave at Burlington, where it overlooks 
what was once his home. It is described as a Tuscan column 
of granite, 42 feet high and 4^ feet in diameter at its base, with a 
pedestal 6 feet square. In this latter are inserted plates of mar- 
ble, bearing these inscriptions: 

West side — Vermont to Ethan Allen, born Litchfield, 
Ct., 10th Jan., 1737, died in Burlington, Vt., 12th Feb., 1789, 
and buried near the site of this monument. 

South side — The leader of the Green Mountain Boys in the 



ETHAN ALLEN } S DA CGHTER. 



2 43 



surprise and captuie of Ticonderoga, which he demanded " in 
the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." 

In that early Vermont, which in common with the primitive 
States of the Union, has so much poetry and romance, so much 
grace and simplicity interwoven with its annals, it is interesting 
throughout to discover the part which the Allen family had in 
its settlement, as well as in its subsequent history. 

We find the names of the Allen family constantly recurring 
in the purchase or sale of property, in the settlement of certain 
tracts of country, in the formation of land companies and in the 
intricacies of the civic business. At the time of the discussion 
concerning the New Hampshire grants to which we have before 
referred, both Ethan and Ira Allen were conspicuous, the for- 
mer being sent as one of the delegates to the convention to de- 
clare Vermont a free and independent State. In the State busi- 
ness of subsequent years Brigadier General Allen was constantly 
engaged. After the time of the Revolution Grand Isle was 
granted to the Aliens, as a testimony of the important services 
they had rendered to the national cause, and its name changed 
to that of Two Heroes in compliment to them. Ethan Allen 
and his brother Ira are both mentioned as proprietors of the 
town of Georgia, which was in the lifetime of both founded, and 
an old notice of that date runs as follows: " The proprietors are 
requested to meet at the dwelling house of Brigadier-General 
Ethan Allen, on the 31st day of May, 1780, at two of the clock, 
afternoon, to transact necessary business." We come upon con- 
stant reference in old State documents to the Allen-Baker land 
company, or now it is some successful commercial venture of 
Hemm Allen, the merchant of the family, or some wild adven- 
turous freak of Levi Allen, the eccentric one, whose doings 
would make matter for a good sized novel. And the uncle, 
Remember Baker, occurs oftenest perhaps of all. His exploits 
in the Continental army, his hair-breadth excapes among the 
savages, his pure, disinterested patriotism, and frank enthusiasm 



244 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



make him one of the most attractive characters of the epoch. 

But we are going to turn away from them all, the patriot, the 
soldier, the statesman and the merchant. The life we are about 
to chronicle was of widely different interest and as we pursue its 
tranquil tenor, we shall marvel how it could have grown out of 
such surroundings. We trust that our readers will not blame 
us for having devoted so much time to this illustrious Vermonter, 
to whom his adopted State has given a statue, and the voice of 
Fame a niche within her temple. The reason is obvious, and 
no apologies are necessary. 

Henceforth our atmosphere is one of peace. Vermont had 
forgotten the turmoil and horror of war and settled down once 
more into rural quietude, at the time with which we are con- 
cerned. Ethan Alien by his second wife had three children, as 
before mentioned. Of these, Fanny, the only daughter, forms 
the subject of our narrative. She was about four years old at the 
time of her fathers death, and it was some two years later that 
upon the marriage of her mother to Dr. Jabez Penniman, of 
Colchester, she went to that town to reside. This Colchester 
was a very beautiful spot. It was one of the long disputed New 
Hampshire grants, and it stands upon a most beautiful portion 
of Lake Champlain. It is bounded on the south by the Winoos- 
ki or Onion River, which is rich alike in natural beauty and in 
tradition. For there are dates of the days when it was the 
chief high-way for the Indians, from the lake to the Connecti- 
cut River. Here went and came the French under Rouville, 
at the time when they sacked Deerfleld and bore away the old 
church-bell, leading with them one hundred and twelve cap- 
tives. Many other incidents of the time are recorded in con- 
nection with it. Tradition points as well to some dim and 
misty settlements by the French, which hover like ghosts in in- 
distinct traces about the spot. Mallet's Bay, Indian Creek and 
other minor strips of water lend their charm to the surroundings, 
with the Lamoille River taking a north-westerly course thence. 



ETHAX ALLEN'S DAUGHTER, 



245 



The gorge at the High Bridge is described as of incomparable 
beauty. Vermont as a State is unsurpassed in richness and 
variety of scenery, its mountains catching the genial warmth 
of the American sun and pouring it down abundantly on 
plain and river, its streams and its variety of forest growth, 
pines, hemlocks, maples, firs and ash trees, the hardy children 
of the North, as well as the profusion and the loveliness of its 
flora, lend it, and perhaps, lent it with more lavish hands, in 
those primitive days, an enchantment that savors of fairyland. 
Now in all Vermont, there is no town to take the palm 
from Colchester, the Colchester of those days, of which 
Ira Allen and Remember Baker were the first settlers, and at 
the time when Ira's garden extending eastward from his house 
to the brook was described as "a paradise of fruit and flowers." 
The home of Dr. Jabez Penniman and consequently of our 
heroine was no less favored by nature. Of itself, it was a large 
frame house, among those of the greatest consequence in the 
place, some eighty or ninety years ago, when most of the dwell- 
ings were log huts. The town was only really organized in 
1 7 9 1 , and then numbered about 75 inhabitants. It had all the 
charm of primitive simplicity ; the habits of the people were of 
that stern and severe character which the pioneers of a settle- 
ment usually possess. Yet there was much harmless enjoyment 
amongst them, and a cheerful, genial intercourse, which grew 
and increased, after the storms of the Revolutionary period had 
blown over and left them as brother with brother. Amid such 
surroundings, Fanny Alien grew to womanhood. She was left 
for the most part to her own resources, free to indulge in her 
favorite pursuit of novel-reading, or, in fact, of indiscriminate 
reading of every kind. Her parents never interfered, and Fanny 
continued her course, imbibing gradually a horror and distaste 
for the only form of worship she had known, and at length a 
professedly skeptical spirit which sat but ill upon one other- 
wise favored with every feminine grace. It seemed to come to 



246 



IVOMEX OF CA THOLICITY. 



her as an unhallowed inheritance from her father, whom she 
resembled in many important respects. Thus she was early 
distinguished by a firmness of will, a self-reliance, an indepen- 
dence, an incisive searching into things, and a clear judgment 
which had been the attributes of the patriot leader. While still 
very young, she was wont to engage her mother in controversies 
upon religious topics, striving, as it were, to obtain some knowl- 
edge of the truth, but shocking and distressing Mrs. Penniman 
with the current of unbelief that seemed to come welling up 
with unrestrained force within her. Yer the girl was so true 
and honest, so gifted with all womanly virtues, and withal 
possessed so keen an intellect, so cutting a wit in argument, 
and so subtle a power of discovering the weak points in the 
religious system which her mother followed,, that the good lady 
was frequently in despair. Nor did it fare any better with 
the scholarly Dr. Penniman when he was brought into the 
debate. He had an unbounded affection for his step-daughter 
and believed that sooner or later all would be well with 
her. 

When fanny was about twelve years of age a singular inci- 
dent occurred, which as it had a most important bearing upon 
her future life, must here be recorded. She was wont, in the 
early spring and summer, to go out, following a path which 
wound down the hill from her home to the river bank. There 
she would spend the long cool summer mornings, or the dreamy 
afternoons when the bee and the bird in the trees above only dis- 
turbed the almost Sabbath quiet. Many an hour Fanny passed, 
with the careless unconcern of childhood for the flight of time, 
gathering the early violets and the tender blossoms of the spring, 
or that richer growth that in the fullness of summer sprang all 
about her with nature's lavish profusion. It is recorded that 
she often whiled away the time, keeping a dry-goods shop of 
leaves and plants and flowers, or building earth-works and fort- 
ifications of sand down upon the beach. Upon one occasion 



ETHAN ALLEN'S DAUGHTER. 



247 



as she was thus engaged, a frightful incident occurred. Up 
from the river s depths close beside her came, or appeared to 
come, a terrible monster. What he was the child could not 
guess. She had never seen anything so horrible before. He 
seemed to gaze upon her, and Fanny in a kind of trance returned 
he stare unwaveringly; she was paralyzed with fear, and de- 
prived of the power of motion. All at once an old man 
stood beside her. She had not seen him approach, she could 
not tell whence he came. He wore a heavy brown cloak, and 
carried a staff in his hand. He touched her gently upon the 
shoulder, saying: "Little daughter, what are you doing here? 
Run away \" She did so, the spell that had been laid upon 
her seemed dispelled. When she had gone a short distance, 
she looked back for her kind protector ; he was nowhere to be 
seen. She reached home in a very thoughtful mood, pale with 
her recent agitation, and full of eagerness to know something 
of her late preserver, who had completely won her heart. Mrs. 
Penniman was sitting sewing in the large, old-fashioned sitting- 
room, when Fanny entered, and began at once to ask if any 
stranger had been there. The mother quietly replied that there 
had been none, but on hearing of Fanny's adventure, and seeing 
the child's desire to discover her kind protector, sent out two 
messengers to inquire if any one answering to such a descrip- 
tion had been seen in the neighborhood. The answer was in 
the negative; no one knew anything of the old man in the brown 
cloak, bearing a staff, and Mrs. Penniman, who had been anx- 
ious to testify her gratitude to him, shared in her daughters 
disappointment. 

However, time went on, and Fanny, the first fright over, 
paid many a visit to that enchanted spot, the beautiful glen 
where the mysterious stranger had appeared, but she never 
saw him again. The surroundings of this marvellous episode 
in our heroine's life, to which we shall hereafter recur, are 
worthy of description. " The right bank of the river, for some 



24$ 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



distance below the falls, " says an eminent local writer,* " is a 
high, perpendicular out chopping of marble from over against 
the hill-side. The roofs of one or two houses, or miner's out-sheds, 
peer over the top. . . The snowy stone fills up the steep em- 
bankment, and dips down to the river edge, here and there ex- 
tending into the very bed of the stream. . . Mark the different 
changes in the stone, and the beautiful mossings creeping up 
the weather-worn seams. Our eye would never tire of such 
beauty. O marble and mosses ! out chopping of marble from 
the hills, and draping mosses, green, golden and brown. And 
a waterfall in grandeur above. v This place, which is called 
High Bridge, must be, indeed, entrancing, when we add to the 
foregoing the picture of dark pines crowning the steep above, 
and the water, a cool, broad stream, dark with shadows, 
silver-white with sunlight, sweeping between its green 
banks. 

The years went by, and Fanny Allen reading her irreligious 
books, and filled in particular with every calumny which hu- 
man error had invented against the Catholic Church, reached 
early womanhood. The description of her at this period is 
most charming. I will take it verbatim from the gifted writer 
to whom reference has just been made : 

k ' Our little maiden," she says, ''had grown tall, brilliant, 
spirited and beautiful. . . her cheek was so glowing, her eye 
wore such a depth of blue and beauty, and her air such a min- 
gled gayety, affectionateness, caprice, wilfulness, pride, sweet- 
ness, and I know not what that makes up a young woman 
eminently human.*)* 

When she was about twenty years of age, a bad book, the 
successor of many another, fell into her hands. It was one of 



m Miss Hemenway, Ed. of the Vermont Hist. Gazeteer. 

t She is said to resemble her uncle Ira. who from his portrait, as well as 
from contemporary accounts, was very handsome. 



ETHAN ALLEN'S DAUGHTER. 



249 



those pretended revelations of convent life, the melancholy per- 
versity, blindness and credulity of which make us smile never- 
theless at the whimsical transparency of the inventions. Few 
Catholics would permit themselves to read such a book. If 
they did, supposing them of ordinary intellectual capacity, 
they would feel more inclined than anything else to indulge in 
a hearty laugh, until a recollection of the sacredness of the 
subject thus so sacrilegiously reviled came upon them. Those 
spots, " where angels fear to tread" and the holy secrets where- 
of the wisest and best are content to regard afar off with awe, 
are made the open battle ground where, to finish the quotation, 
" fools step in," to fight out their unholy contest, and profane 
the cloistral sanctity by the pollution of their own minds. To 
the daughter of Ethan Allen, the pages of this book were full 
of palpable absurdity. But they filled her, providentially of 
course, with a great longing. It occurred to her that these 
Catholics, of whom she had always heard such evil said, must 
be at least different, a thing apart from all those religious sys- 
tems, which though as widely apart as the poles in matters of 
opinion, contrived to live side by side in such amicable disa- 
greement. Why, thought the subtle and logical mind of our 
heroine, should they all unite against the Catholic Church ? 
What manner of people must these Catholics be? Why can 
they not give in as their neighbors do, and believe in universal 
toleration, and a common, broad path for all men to Heaven ? 
Was there not of old but one religion which provoked the em- 
nity of the State? In Rome, throughout the Empire, Chris- 
tians alone were persecuted. Is this the mark of Christ which 
his followers still bear ? Is the world to hate them because 
they are not of the world ? Fanny Allen conning the subject 
over, became possessed with an ardent desire to see some priests 
and nuns, and secretly made up her mind to gratify her whim 
on the very first opportunity. 

Of course there were no Catholic churches in the State. It 
would not be permitted. The old Blue Laws or their rem- 



2 5 0 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



nants still existed, though in their more extreme consequences 
they had become a dead letter. Fanny Allen in all probabili- 
ty knew of them, of such enactments as Clause 10, by which it 
was thus decreed: ''No Roman Catholic shall abide in this 
dominion ; he shall be banished and suffer death on his re- 
turn. Priests may be seized by any one without a warrant.'' 
The natural inference to a mind like that of the sturdy old 
General's daughter would be, why cannot Catholics live here 
as well as any others ? This is a land of freedom. Its 
founders came hither to escape persecution. Why should they 
be guilty of such intolerance? She knew a place where there 
were priests and nuns in abundance and she resolved to pro- 
ceed thither. Under pretence of being anxious to learn French, 
which, indeed, she had always desired, Fanny Allen asked 
permission of her step-father and mother go to a convent in 
Montreal to study. They were very much opposed to the 
step, dreading more than anything else her conversion to 
Catholicity. That is, in plain language, they would have pre- 
ferred her to remain a skeptic, rather than that she should im- 
bibe doctrines which they could not understand. However, 
with a zeal which, though misdirected, was commendable, the 
good couple made one condition to their final consent. That 
was that Fanny should be baptized by a minister of the Pres- 
byterian Church. Fanny declared openly that she had not the 
slightest belief in that or any other ceremony of the Christian faith, 
as she then understood it. She finally complied, however, to 
please her mother. It is a curious commentary upon Protes- 
tant Baptism, if we may be permitted without offence to make 
the remark, that a clergyman should have been willing to ad- 
minister it, against the will of the recipient, and in the face of 
her positive declaration of unbelief in its efficacy. Miss Allen 
was baptized by the Rev. Daniel Barber, in the Presbyterian 
meeting-house, and so unbecoming was her conduct through- 
the out ceremony, that the clergyman was obliged to rebuke 



ETHAN ALLEN'S DAUGHTER. 



2 5 l 



her. She actually laughed in his face when he sprinkled her 
with water. Of course in the Catholic Church such a baptism 
would have been impossible. Could Mr. Barber have looked 
then with prophetic eye across the years, or could the bystand- 
ers have lifted the veil, which showed his fate bound up with 
that of the unwilling neophyte before him, how strange would 
have been the effect. Truly life is a vast phantasmagoria. 

We next see our heroine at the Convent of the Congrega- 
tion, Montreal, place of many memories dear to countless 
hearts, with its tradition, in which history, religion, and 
the annals of numberless Canadian families are bound 
up, with its all-pervading shade of Marguerite Bourgeoys, 
the noblest and gentlest figure in colonial records. There 
her sisters are carrying on to-day their mission of education, which 
has been such a boon to the country, and there the daughter of the 
American patriot was providentially brought, to learn at last 
the heaven-high truths, before which her skepticism vanished, 
like mountain mists before the coming of the morning. This 
convent was not the Villa-Maria cf to-day, high up upon the 
mountain side, overlooking from afar the blueness of the St. 
Lawrence. It was the old Congregation Convent down in the 
city's heart, shut in by cloister walls, an ancient relic, that still 
existing, seems new to transport us out of this modern sphere 
of ours, far back into the past. 

Fanny Aliens first weeks or months at the convent were not 
successful. She made no secret of her unbelief, and so openly 
mocked at the sacred rites of religion, and at all that she saw 
about her, that the nuns, fearing to give scandal to the other 
children, concluded among themselves to send her home 
quietly. Fanny had conceived a warm attachment for 
one of her teachers, who took a special interest in the 
young Protestant. It was this teacher who begged of the 
Superior to put off her dismissal for a few weeks. She declared 
her belief that God and the Blessed Virgin could obtain 



252 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



her conversion, if it were by a miracle. Time passed, Fanny 
did not improve, and the last day of the reprieve granted 
by the Superior was approaching. It was the Feast of 
the Nativity of Wary, September 8th. Fanny spent the after- 
noon of the festival with her favorite teacher, conversing 
as usual, and perversely delighting in shocking her with al- 
most blasphemous expressions of unbelief. The religious, 
who was busy arranging a vase of flowers to be placed before 
the Blessed Sacrament at Benediction that afternoon, seized, 
as it were, with a sudden inspiration, bade her pupil take the 
vase into the chapel and put it herself upon the altar. "Be 
sure," she added, " that you adore our Lord, when you go in 
there." Fanny laughed, took the flowers, and went, fully re- 
solved not to bend in adoration. She scoffed at such mum- 
meries. Why, it was the very idolatry of which she used to 
hear Catholics accused, down in her New England home. 
When she reached the gate of the sanctuary she opened it, and 
was about to enter, when all at once, she felt herself deprived 
of the power of motion. She could not advance a step. Three 
times she made the effort, and as often found it futile. A 
sudden awe fell upon her, and throwing herself on her knees, 
with the first genuine act of faith she had ever made, she adored 
the Hidden God, whom she now knew in her inmost heart was 
present in the Tabernacle. She laid down the flowers, hum- 
bly, tremulously, and retired to the end of the chapel, where 
she wept and prayed, all her old insubordination, her scoffing, 
her jeering gone. She had heard a voice that she dared not 
disobey. " After such a miracle," she said to herself, "1 
must give myself to my Saviour." She did not at first tell what 
had occurred, but very soon after asked to be instructed in the 
Catholic faith, went to Confession and prepared for Baptism. 
Her former Baptism had been rendered null by her want of 
consent. Hence the Cure of Notre Dame, M. Saulniers, re- 
ceived her abjuration, and again baptized her. 



E THAX A LLEN 'S DA UGHTER. 



2 53 



This conversion was truly a miracle of grace, the proud 
heart of the New England girl, educated in the sternest of 
Presbyterian forms, inheriting from her father the spirit of un- 
belief, herself remarkably impervious to external impressions 
of any kind, as ail her teachers as well as those who knew her 
well, testify, being unwilling always to accept information of 
what kind soever without the clearest proof, was in an instant 
animated with the liveliest faith, which led her the length of 
every sacrifice. Doubt, unbelief, indifference were swept away 
by the grace of God, and Fanny Allen resolved from that mo- 
ment to embrace the religious life. However, she had much to 
undergo in the meantime. She had scarcely made her First 
Communion in that beloved chapel of the Congregation 
nunnery, when her parents arrived to take her home. Informed 
of her conversion, they were naturally most indignant, though 
they could not help being struck with the change which had 
come over her. She deferred to their wishes in everything, 
save that one vital point, from which her new docility sprang. 
She returned home with them and there remained for six 
months. This period spent in that once beloved town was 
very painful to her. The face of things was changed. Es- 
tranged from her parents, avoided by most of her former asso- 
ciates, she sadly experienced, as many others have done, the 
intolerance of the disciples of private judgment. Her step- 
father was the bitterest of all, openly expressing his horror of 
the religion she had embraced. The petty story of the perse- 
cution which she now had to undergo is familiar to many. We 
need not dwell upon it. Her father's sturdy spirit, still awake 
within her, made the young girl cling the more ardently to the 
" pearl of great price'' which she had found, as it was the more 
reviled. When Lent came, she fasted to such an extent, that 
her naturally delicate constitution was exhausted. She an- 
nounced to her family quietly but firmly her determination to 
become a nun. Every argument was employed, but in vain, to 



254 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



shake this resolution. We must remember that she was the 
only Catholic amongst them all, at a time when a Catholic 
was an object of curiosity. Uncles, aunts, cousins, step-father, 
friends, the playmates of her childhood, the companions of her 
youth, even her mother, were all willing to believe that 
she whose judgment they once so much admired, had entered 
"the Babylon of sin" deceived by the spell which Popish 
priests and nuns cast around their victims. But it mattered 
little to this child of predilection. 

When spring was coming softly over the hills, bringing sun- 
light into the plains, verdure to the apple-orchards and groves, 
and new life into the beautiful rivers of her natal State, Fanny 
Allen bade it farewell forever. Her mother, anxious above all 
things to secure her daughter's happiness, consented at last,and 
accompanied her to Montreal. She never saw Vermont again. 
In fact, she was soon to shut herself in from the face of nature 
in perpetuity. In going to Canada, she had no definite idea 
of what community she meant to enter \ of one thing only she 
was certain, that she would leave the world. In order to de- 
cide this point, she visited with her mother the various relig- 
ious institutions with which Montreal abounds. Just as the 
mother was growing weary of what seemed to her an idle quest, 
the seekers entered one afternoon the chapel of the Hotel 
Dieu. It was upon a calm spring afternoon, when Mont 
Royale was shrouded in its softest golden haze, when the city 
of Mary was redolent with spring, when the maples lining her 
streets were bursting into tender green, when the horse chest- 
nuts and the hawthorns were white with blossoms, that our 
heroine found the key to the new enigma which had taken the 
place of the old one in her searching mind. Above the 
high altar was a painting of the Holy Family which imme- 
diately attracted the eyes of the young American. In a burst 
of emotion, she cried out : "You see, dear mother, that St. 
Joseph wants me here; it was he who saved my life by deliver- 
ing me from the monster that was going to devour me. " 



ETHAN ALLEN'S DAUGHTER, 



255 



Fanny Allen of course here referred to the mysterious inter- 
position of the stranger, who had saved her from a monster, as we 
have before related, and whom she now recognized as St. Joseph. 
The dress, the expression of the face, the shape of the head, the 
likeness was complete. She had found him who was so long 
sought in vain. It would be idle to inquire, and yet it is a 
question which will arise in the minds of many of us, whether 
it was a real monster from whom St. Joseph had delivered her 
or but an impression of the senses. In any case it was clearly 
providential. Supposing the monster to have been but an illu- 
sion, it conveyed a definite idea to the mind of the child, never 
effaced. Thirteen years after, when the occurrence had all but 
faded from her memory, she recognized at a glance her pre- 
server to have been St. Joseph. It would seem that unbelief 
was the monster from which St. Joseph rescued her. Had such 
a thing occurred in Italy, Spain or France, we might have put 
it aside as something bordering upon superstition, or even gone 
farther and called it hallucination or superstition. But when it 
took place in modern New England, the subject of the mani- 
festation a precocious American child, who had been educated 
in unbelief, when it made so deep an impression upon a strong- 
willed, strong-minded young woman, with high intellectual 
gifts, and whose particular bent was skepticism, we can only 
regard it as the work of God. The gifted Vermont lady, o 
whom we have so often spoken, tells us that u the story is tra- 
ditional in Vermont — in Chittenden county with parties that 
knew the Aliens and the Pennimans — a few of whom, the aged, 
yet live. " * 

When Miss Allen presented herself to Mere de Celozon, then 
Superior, and asked admission into her institute, she was 
advised to wait. The prudent religious knowing little of her, 
and from that very little, perhaps, judging her decision prema- 



* Miss Hemenway. 



256 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



ture, advised her to return to the Congregation Convent to 
perfect herself in French,, and at the same time become better 
acquainted with the religion she had embraced, while reflecting 
upon the important step she was about to take. This good 
advice was followed, and a second time did Fanny Allen be- 
come an inmate of the House of the Congregation. She re- 
mained there until the Feast of St Michael September 29th, 
1808, when she entered as a novice at the Hotel-Dieu. The 
Hotel Dieu at that time stood upon St. Paul Street adjoining the 
House of the Congregation. It is one of the old relics which 
has disappeared from Montreal. From the moment that our 
heroine had recognized in the image of St. Joseph, the myste- 
rious protector of her childhood, no doubt remained in her 
mind that she was called upon to wear the holy habit of the 
Hospital Sisters of St. Joseph, more familiarly known in Cana- 
da as the Nuns of the Hotel-Dieu. Through all the stirring 
annals of New France, the name of this Order occurs incessantly. 
Their sublime charity and self-sacrifice found a full harvest in 
that New World to which a providential interposition had 
brought them. They were one of the three original Orders 
which had-come to Montreal with its first settlers. The Sulpicians, 
the sons of the saintly M. Olier, were to honor Jesus, the 
daughters of Marguerite Bourgeoys were to teach a special de- 
votion to Mary, and the Hospital Nuns to be the consecrated 
children of St. Joseph. The whole story of their foundation, 
of the design of establishing these three Orders in honor of the 
Holy Family, which was miraculously revealed to M. Olier, 
and made known by special manifestations to M. de la Dau- 
versiere, patron of the Hospital Nuns, is profoundly interesting. 
The labors of these religious, dating from those primal days, 
can never be estimated upon earth. Now when Montreal has 
become the Queen City of the North, when the early struggles, 
privations, and hardships of the pioneers are but ''shadows of 
a dream/' these heroic women are still pursuing their holy 



ETHAX ALLE.\ £ DA UGHThR. 



257 



work. Shut off by the cloister from ail communication with 
the outside world, except that which takes place in the hospital 
wards, amid the sick, the dying and the dead, they lead their 
mixed life of contemplation and active charity. They conduct 
one of the largest hospitals of the city, which is a truly magni- 
ficent structure. 

It will not be necessary for us to follow at great length our 
heroine into her new life. The secret of the cloister remains 
there, as flowers spring up in a shady wood, whence their fra- 
grance, save in rare wafts, penetrates but little to the dusty 
highway without. In the calmness of that seclusion the once 
restless mind of the patriot's daughter found absolute content. 
She went about her new round of duties with a zeal, a regularity, 
an ardor, that edified her sisters. Sister Allen, in fact, brought 
with her into the conventual existence what is described in the 
annals of the house as a " perfectly apostolic spirit. ''' Who so 
ardent, so enthusiastic, so permeated, if we may use the expres- 
sion, with the heaven-sent gift of faith, as she. Her scoffing, 
her skepticism, her doubts were replaced by an absolute belief, 
her independence by a complete submission. 

In the spring following her entrance. Dr. and Mrs. Penni- 
man came to see her ; to them it was truly a novel experience. 
They had a preconceived idea of a Catholic nunnery. They 
believed it to be for some of their inmates a living tomb, a sort 
of grave wherein were buried disappointed hopes, failure of 
some sort or remorse, an abode of superstition, full of the 
gloom, permeated with all the horrors of asceticism. They 
came to find it the abiding place of fraternal charity and good- 
will, in the only true sense that these words can be employed 
upon earth, to see contentment, peace, cheerfulness, mirth even 
upon the faces of the sisterhood, to find order, cleanliness, gen- 
tle gravity and sobriety, the genii of the place, to stand amazed 
at the self-abnegations, heroic charity, sublime love of the 
neighbor carried to perfection. The worthy couple before de- 



258 



WOMEN* OF CATHOLICITY. 



parting congratulated their beloved child upon the part she 
had chosen. 

Upon the occasion of Sister Allen's profession, the body of the 
conventual chapel was filled with Americans, friends and ac- 
quaintances of her family, who had known the young girl in 
childhood and in youth, or admirers of her father's glorious 
career, who saw in the sterling patriot, the staunch upholder, 
the ardent lover of freedom. They were now to behold his child, 
voluntarily and forever, immuring herself within consecrated 
walls, renouncing her personal liberty, her judgment, her once 
indomitable will. It was a striking scene, which long remained 
impressed upon the minds of the spectators. The liberty for 
which her father had fought and bled, which belongs of right to 
every child of free America, was exchanged by this young girl, 
in the very flower of her youth and hope, for the liberty of the 
children of God — an ideal which the Catholic Church alone 
presents to her members. That was, indeed, a memorable hour 
in the quiet little chapel of the Hotel-Dieu, and a new page, in 
that ever varied story of their annals, wherein the red man and 
the white, the English prisoner of war or the French victor, 
Americans and Hessians, Scotch and Irish, appear as spectres, 
disturbing not at all the holy calm of the chronicle of their daily 
lives. 

We shall here transcribe the following description of our 
heroine ; " from a lady whose mother was personally acquainted 
with her, and saw her frequently after she had taken the veil.'"* 

"Fanny was the youngest daughter of Gen. Ethan Allen, and 
inherited much of the energy and decision of his character, con- 



* Kindly furnished to the author by Miss Abby Maria Hemenway, a 
distinguished convert of Vermont, well and favorably known to the public 
by her own writings, as well as by her editorship of the Vermont Historical 
Gazeteer, published in several volumes and being a most excellent authority 
upon State affairs. To it, as well as to its editor, we are mainly indebted 
for the facts contained in this sketch. 



ETHAX ALELN'S DAUGHTER. 



trolled by womanly gentleness. In person she was rather 
above than below the medium height, and of uncommon beauty 
in form and feature. Her complexion was fair, her eyes dark 
blue with a singular depth and calmness of expression, while 
the dignity and ease of her manners gave quiet evidence to the 
refinement and loveliness of her character. In the qualities 
which adorn the domestic and social circle she was unsurpassed. 
The circumstance of her conversion to the Catholic faith, at a 
time when very little was known of that religion in Vermont, 
was regarded as a most remarkable one, and created great ex- 
citement in her family. In general society where she was widely 
known, and peculiarly fitted to shine, and, indeed, as far as the 
name of her distinguished father was known. This excitement 
was, of course, greatly increased when her solemn determination 
to take the veil was disclosed. Every possible opposition was 
made by her family and friends without moving her decision 
for a moment, In the hope of diverting her attention to other 
subjects, or awakening her interest in the frivolities of the world, 
and thus averting an event which was deemed so great a cala- 
mity, or at least delaying its accomplishment, she was introduced, 
during several seasons, among fashionable circles of our cities, 
where she attracted universal admiration. She quietly acquiesced 
and cheerfully complied \vith the desires of her mother and 
step-father in these matters, but it was all of no avail, and they 
were at length prevailed upon to consent to her following a 
vocation which had superseded all worldly interests in her heart. 
For a long time after she took the step which had become the 
great object of her life, the convent was constantly beseiged with 
people from different parts of the United States, who were visit- 
ing Montreal for business or pleasure and could not leave the 
city without seeing the ' lovely American nun/ the first one 
whom their country had given to such a life, and the daughter 
of so prominent and popular a leader of the ' Green Mountain 
Boys/ These constant calls, however, became fatiguing and 



260 



WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. 



annoying to her, and the Mother Superior at length consented 
to deny her attendance upon them, and permit her to retire to 
the seclusion she so ardently desired. " 

From the time of her profession, indeed, the influence of 
Sister Allen began to grow abroad. The calm face framed in 
the whiteness of the religious head-dress, shaded by the long, 
black veil, the unfamiliar garb, dwelt in the memory of 
many, who had witnessed the ceremony of her profession. 

Apart from the fact that while tending the sick in the hospital 
wards, this our first American nun became soon remarkable for 
the number of conversions in which she was instrumental, four 
in one week as it happened on one occasion, her influence went 
much farther. It spread abroad towards that beautiful town, 
in her native Vermont, where the years of her girlhood had 
been passed. It stole in softly, like a shadow, such as hills cast 
at evening over the plain, or like the rising sun upon the sum- 
mit of ML Mansfield. One of the first upon whom its effect 
was visible, was the Rev. Daniel Barber, the venerable clergy- 
man, who had so short a time before baptized Sister Alien in 
the Presbyterian Church. He had since himself become an 
Episcopalian. But the lesson of Fanny Alien's life, the 
marvellous change wrought in her by the blessing of divine 
faith, was not lost upon him. A few months after her reception, 
he became a Catholic, his example being followed by his wife and 
children, of whom we may mention in special his son. the Rev. 
Virgil Horace Barber, like himself a minister. Their subsequent 
career was so remarkable, that we will digress here sufficiently 
to give some account of them. The Barber family were among 
the first important converts to the truth in New England, and 
as their conversion was the fruit, the actual outcome of that of 
Sister Allen, we are the more disposed to dwell upon it. They 
were old settlers, people of consequence in the State, enlightened 
and cultured, earnest in their own belief. Mr. Barber, the elder, 
as we have mentioned, was so affected by the spectacle of the 



ETHAN ALLEN'S DAUGHTER. 

exalted virtues of Sister Allen and the sacrifices to which tney 
had led her, that he himself gave up everything to embrace the 
truth. 

There came a day when the old meeting-house, wherein he 
had ministered, was the witness of an affecting scene. Rev. 
Daniel Barber ascended the pulpit to speak his farewell to his 
parishioners. We are told that tears and sobs greeted the an- 
nouncement of his departure. Old ties had bound them to- 
gether, funeral services read over those who had once filled the 
rude pews, and were brought finally in their coffins for a last 
prayer, marriages performed, baptism administered, old men and 
matronsjwho had seen with him the settlement of the place, 
young men and maidens who had already learned his worth. 
His last words to them were as follows: 

' ' I now, my friends, retire to the shades of poverty. May 
the faults which I have committed while among you be written 
on the sands of the sea-shore, that the next returning wave 
may wash them into oblivion." The parishioners deplored that 
minds so pure, so pious, and so fervent, should be so demented. 
Mr. Barber made the sacrifice of all worldly goods; his wife, his 
daughter Rachel, and his son Israel were received with him. 
Their conversion was followed by that of the Rev. Virgil 
Horace Barber, and his wife, whose singular story* we shall 
now recite. Once having become Catholics, both were actuated 
by the same desire to serve God in the religious state. Mr. 
Barber, after much reflection and consultation, went to Rome, 
returning with the permission for Mrs. Barber to enter the Vis- 
itation Order, while he himself became ajesuit. Their children, 
four girls and one boy, were at school at the Visitation Convent 
and the Jesuit College, Georgetown. When the time came for 



* We take the account of these conversions from the Annals of the Ho- 
tel Dieu, Vol. II, as well as from sketches of the Establishment of the 
Church in New England, by Fitten, &c. 



262 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



the mother's profession in the Visitation Order the Superior told 
the children, including the boy who had been brought thither 
from the college, that they might come to the chapel to witness the 
ceremony, but did not tell them who the novice was. What was 
their astonishment to behold their mother taking the vows of 
the Visitation Order, and their Father at the same time binding 
himself for life to the Society of Jesus. The children burst into 
tears, but their grief was soon consoled. All five of them imi- 
tated the example of their parents. One daughter became a 
Visitation nun, the other three Ursulines * at Boston, Quebec 
and Three Rivers. The brother Samuel, a Jesuit. But the 
extraordinary effects which flowed from the conversion of our 
heroine did not end here. Mrs. Tyler, a sister of the Rev. Vir- 
gil Barber, also became a Catholic, about a year later, together 
with her three sons and four daughters. All the daughters were 
Sisters of Charity. Of the sons, William became a priest, Vicar- 
General of Boston Diocese, under Bishop Fenwick, and finally 
the first Bishop of Hartford, f The example of the Barbers quick- 
ly led other Protestant ministers and people of note to inquire into 
the doctrines of the Church. Thus about 1 8 1 6, we read of aRev. 
Mr. Kierley or Keely, Rector of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
of St. George in New York, who through the influence of Mr. 
Barber was converted, besides Rev. Mr. White, of Waterbury, 
Rev. Wm. Hoyt and family and others. The first Church in the 
State of New Hampshire, was built at Claremont by Father Vir- 
gil Horace Barber, S. J., in 1823. His congregation there 
consisted almost entirely of converts, among whom many were 
families of note, such as that of Captain Bela Chase, who had been 



* This one of the Barber sisters was at Mt. Benedict on that terrible Aug. 
11, 1 834, when the convent was invaded by a mob, and had to flee for her 

life. 

f Lives of Deceased Bishops of the Catholic Church in the United 
States, by R. H.Clarke. M. A. 



ETHAN ALLEN'S DAUGHTER. 



263 



led to inquire into the truth by the clause in the State Laws for- 
bidding Catholics to hold office. When Bishop Fenwick came 
thither in 1826, he confirmed twenty-one persons, who had 
nearly all been parishioners of the Rev. Daniel Barber, in the 
little town across the river. 

All these conversions, and of course, incalculably many more, 
came through the instrumentality, more or less direct, of Ethen 
Allen's daughter, who, far away in a French community, in the city 
of Mary, was pursuing her allotted round of duties, never flagging, 
never growing weary, until at lengh in the eleventh year of her 
profession, she was seized with some affection of the lungs which 
soon ended her heroic career. She asked of the Superior that 
a certain American Protestant physician, then residing in Mon- 
treal, and whom she had formerly known, might attend her- 
The request was granted. The doctor came, but his efforts 
to save her were in vain. He was present, however, at her death, 
and such an impression did it make upon him, that he not only 
spoke of it to every one, but even published an account thereof, 
in the local papers, dwelling upon the consolation which the 
Catholic Church offers to her children in the hours of dissolu- 
tion. Nor did the impression prove a transient one. Eight- 
een months after, he sold all he had, and came to take leave of 
the Sisters. He declared that he would never see them again 
in this world, but he hoped to make himself worthy to meet 
them in heaven. He departed for Europe and the Sisters 
could never afterward ascertain what had become of him. 
They presumed that he had entered some monastery, and 
buried himself in its complete oblivion. 

But to return to that holy death-bed. It was a solemn scene, 
the religious kneeling about the bed, the priest with stole and sur- 
plice reading the prayers for the departing spirit, and Ethen Allen s 
daughter, calm and tranquil, fast loosening the links that bound 
her to a world she had renounced. The priest all at once began 
the a Depart, O Christian Soul." The doctor, in answer to a ques- 



264 



WOMEN OF CA THOLICITY. 



tion from the Superior, answered simply, ' ' Yes, she is dead," 
and the Sisters joined in prayer for the spirit that had gone, fol- 
lowing it beyond the boundary of life, to the throne of God. 
The soul of the patriot's daughter was before its judge. 

What more have we to say of her, this famed child of Ver- 
mont who sprang up among the verdure-clad mountains of that 
beautiful State often called the Switzerland of America, and who 
offers the American character under its noblest and most ideal 
aspect. Her memory is still dear to Vermonters, and hovers a 
gentle tradition, even among those from whom she differed in 
faith and for whom she is praying no doubt above. The 
glen where St. Joseph appeared to her is kept almost a place of 
pilgrimage,and the Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, 
who have a house at Burlington, repair thither, each summer 
and repeat to their pupils the story which has consecrated it. 
The gifted Vermont writer, to whom we have so often referred, 
relates that when in Montreal, some years ago, there was then 
one Sister living, who had known Fanny Allen. "Know 
Fanny Allen," said she, and her face lighted wonderfully, "I 
lived seven years in the house with her. The loveliest spirit that 
ever lived in this house/" * 

With these words we shall leave her. They are in themselves 
a beautiful eulogium. Ethan Allen's daughter, f as the chil- 
dren of America love to call her, has entered no doubt long 
since into the inheritance of the blessed, and seen never more to 
lose the vision of it, the face of Him whom the Canticles describe 
as "reposing among lilies, while the day declines and the 
shadows fall." 

* Miss llemenway. 

t Our information has been taken from the Annals of the Hotel Dieu, 
kindly sent us by the Hospital Nun , to whom we here offer our ac- 
knowledgments; from the Vermont Historical Gazeteer, to one or two 
other works mentioned in foot notes; and to Dr. John Gilmary Shea for 
valuable suggestions. 



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